Destroy Everything You Touch

[Cryax Bane]

-Receiving: Holo message from Cryax Bane, President of the Red Ravens-

-Please press play-

After a flashing emblem of a raven appeared on screen, the message flickered to life, revealing a blue Holo of a man, his glowing eyes a telltale sign of his Chiss race. It turned out that this particular Chiss was someone who [member="Anastasia Rade"] would find very familiar, for better or for worse. The man was Cryax Bane, her ex-boyfriend. Cryax was Anastasia's first love, but he wasn't the man he thought she was by any stretch of the word. Whatever innocence and sweetness the geeky young slicer had shown in their relationship, however genuine it might have been, didn't change the fact that deep down the Chiss was a craven sociopath. As a behind-the-scenes slicer, Cryax found it easy to be the accomplice to all manner of grievous crimes, since he himself wasn't doing the dirty work, but now that he was the head of the largest criminal organization in the Outer Rim, the Chiss's homicidal tendencies found themselves an open, fertile playground.

In a large, lavish office, decorated in the same vein as the rest of the Dragon Palace Casino on Antecedent, velvet upholstery, ubiquitous dragon motifs, and garish neon track lights, Cryax Bane stood before her in three dimensions. Eschewing the trenchcoat and fingerless gloves he wore when he was merely a slicer in the organization, the Chiss now appeared in an expensive-looking pinstriped suit and tie. He was leaning against his desk, rubbing his temples, his brow furrowed in an expression of pure terror.

“Ana, I know I’m probably the last person you want to hear from right now. In fact, I wouldn’t blame you if you deleted this message. But if you’re still watching me, then I thank you. I need you to come to Antecdent. I’m in very deep trouble, and I need your help. It’s a life or death situation, and I can’t explain it over Holo message.” Here his glowing red eyes glanced furtively around the room. “Anyone could be intercepting this. I know that you probably hate me, but for an old friend who needs your help, would you please come?” Cryax looked afraid. Very very afraid.

Then Cryax paused and swept his hand out, gesturing to his surroundings. “As you can see, I’m now the President of the Red Ravens. So since credits are no object, I will my own personal Galaxy One luxury transport to pick you on Mandalore and bring you to me. Please call my executive assitant at this number...” Here a number flashed up on the screen. “...and tell my assistant, yes. Tell him you’ll come see me. I anxiously await your response, bat in'a.”

-End message-

[member="Dredge"]

 

[Anastasia Rade]

The last person in this galaxy that the young woman had even wanted to hear from again was [member="Cryax Bane"] . He had broken her heart and sent the young woman on a tailspin of grief. Since his last text to her Ana had healed and moved forward with her life. She had someone new and better for her. He was perfect in every way and she was head over heels for him. He was made just for her and she could see herself spending the rest of her days with him.

A sigh escaped her lips as she pressed the play button to listen to the message. As much as things were perfect for her right now Ana knew full well there complications. Aaden's maker was with the Ravens and Ana wondered may still hold control over the one she loved. It was in her best interest to play nice for right now and not get angry as the rest of her family had. If she got close she may also be able to help him take the company for himself. Ana knew how much that business meant to him and she want to force his hand and make him walk away.

At the end of the recording Ana just sat back pondering what she would. The video itself had brought back memories that she had hidden away. Seeing him again would only serve to bring back more and that she could do without. The man had done nothing but hurt her and run however if she helped him, he would owe her. This time she would see to it that her debt was paid.

This could be nothing more than a trap however Ana knew how to deal with things. She had quite a few more tricks up her sleeve now than last time. Picking up her comm link Ana dialed the number and waited to be picked up. She decided while she waited to make sure she had plenty of gear with her.

 

[Cryax Bane]

Anastasia would find that the Galaxy One transport that Cryax had sent for her was quite a luxurious vehicle. It had a full-sized kitchen stocked with liquor in case she wanted a drink, a board-meeting room, lounges, guest quarters, and a master suite. Cryax definitely rode in style these days. Steely-eyed Red Raven bodyguards hovered near the young Mandalorian woman where she sat, whispering in hushed tones to each other on comlinks. The Chiss crime boss's guards had let her bring her gear and weapons on board, but kept a keen eye on them all the way to Antecedent.

Once they got to the Dragon Palace Casino, amid the cerulean neon lights and the excited sounds of gamblers on winning streaks, security scanned Anastasia for any weapons that she had, and promptly took them off her person, leaving her in her armor. That was the Casino's policy after all. Then the near human security guards escorted her up to the second floor and down the corridors of a heavily protected wing where Cryax's office was.

The door opened with a hiss and they politely ushered Anastasia into Cryax's office. When Cryax was Secretary of the organization, he worked in a horrendously messy darkened room, lit only by the blue glow of computers. His new space, Lysle Rigger's old office, was much larger and decorated like the rest of the casino with red velvet loveseats and pink and blue neon everywhere.

Upon entering the room, Anastasia would see Cryax sitting at a large shiny, black desk, hands folded in front of his face, wearing an expensive and exquisitely-tailored suit befitting his new title. He'd gotten laser surgery on his glowing red eyes, and he no longer wore his trademark nerd glasses. The young Chiss looked handsome as usual, but there were dark purple circles mottling the skin underneath his eyes, a telltale sign of either sleeplessness or duress. As his red eyes met hers, mixed emotions flashed across his face. He had genuinely cared about Anastasia and although the Chiss had a new relationship with a Morellian slicer, it tugged at his heart to see her again. He almost rose from his seat, but then sat back down and straighten his tie briskly.

"Hello Anatasia," he simply said, then one corner of his mouth turned up very slowly in a soft smile. "You look lovely as always."

[member="Anastasia Rade"]

 

[Anastasia Rade]

She had hoped to never Cryax again. There was nothing left to say to him and he would never give her the closer she deserved. The Chiss had made that clear by the way he left things. Ana had only one reason for being here and that was after this he would owe her. She wasn't crafty like this normally but things changed. She would face him again to get what she wanted.

There were no more fancy dresses, Ana instead wore her armor with helmet in hand as she sat down. The normal cheerful smile that Ana had when she saw him had been replaced by a cold hard stare. Her time as a slave had taught her to be ruthless and emotionless. The young woman had been silly enough to thing that it was different out there in the galaxy. Everything was the same and Cryax was worse than slaver she had. He had made it so she genuinely cared about him and she had believed he cared for her. His text proved that was nothing more than a lie and it had broken her. She wouldn't allow him to see that or anything else about her. He lost that privilege a long time ago.

"What do you want? What's this emergency?" Ana skipped right over the pleasantries and went straight to business. What was left to say anyway? He had broken her heart without any care in the galaxy. She was here to help him if he wanted that of course. If there were other things he wanted well than the answer was no. She had closed that door a long time ago. Ana had found someone whom she was very happy with.

[member="Cryax Bane"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

"Aren't you even going to ask me how I'm doing?" Cryax asked, his brow knitted in a hurt expression. "Honestly, Anastasia, after I apologized on Mandalore, I thought we'd be on better terms than this." He spread his hands as he talked, gazing at her with the same look that she would remember back on Antecedent when he held her in his arms. He had practiced the look many times in the mirror before her arrival, and had it down. If this didn't work, he wasn't above crocodile tears. Although admittedly the deception wasn't a total act. Cryax still cared deeply about Ana in only a way that a sociopath could, and didn't relish the disappointed look in her eyes. However, at this point in time, the Chiss crime boss was a world away from being able to stop all of the wheels that had been inexorably set into motion by his own stupid mistakes. He could almost feel the Yorik-Kul from the Yuuzhan Vong pulsing painfully in his brain, a shameful reminder of the ungodly task he was being asked to perform.

When Cryax was met with a blank stare on her end, he continued with an edge of resignation in his glowing red eyes, "Fine if you want to get right down to it, I will tell you." Here he swallowed hard, and held a blue-skinned finger up to signal that he needed a moment. Cryax seemed visibly upset by what he was about to reveal, and almost choked out the words. "I was cornered by Yuuzhan Vong in a Red Raven operation on Teth that went horribly, horribly south," he explained. "In order to save my teammates, I sacrificed myself to the Vong so that they could escape. Over the next few days, I was tortured horribly. They took both of my legs and..." Here he stopped, his head down, blue-black hair hanging in his face. "Sorry, I need another moment ch'eo ch'acah," he said using the same Cheuhn sweet talk that he used to whisper in her ear when they were together.

[member="Anastasia Rade"]

 

[Anastasia Rade]

"Azrael forced you to apologize," stated quietly. If he hadn't made Cryax to do so Ana would have gotten nothing from him. The man was a coward for not being straight with her from the get go. He had allowed her to cry herself to sleep at night wondering what she did wrong. Why he didn't love her too. The young woman had even convinced herself that she wasn't lovable, that what had happened to her ruined her. It wasn't worth talking to him about though.

She was good at hiding her emotions when she wanted to but that didn't mean seeing him again didn't bring up old memories. It was as if the scar was being ripped open once again just seeing him.

"I'm sorry, they hurt you." She stated as her voice soften slightly. She knew it was stupid but Ana couldn't help but care a little. He had been her first love after all. "I'm not sure how I can help. What do you need from me?" It would behove her as well not to fight with him as he was allies with the Sith. She could save the galaxy a lot of grief this way though being here by itself pained her.

He had broken her heart and stomped on it when he left. She believed that he didn't care about her at all nor did he ever. If he had he would have told her he preferred men. He would have cared enough to tell her.

[member="Cryax Bane"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

When Cryax spoke again his voice rose with minor irritation. "Actually, Ana, your brother not only forced me to apologize, but first he kidnapped me, and then forced me to apologize. I was going to apologize in my own time, but he stole that from me." The young Chiss began to heat up with anger, and he started turning into the rage-filled version of Cryax that Ana had seen appear right after his rescue from Kessel. "Your brother had no karking right to come here to my home, decapitate my guards, dangle me off the side of a fething building and then forcibly take me to your godforsaken planet. I broke no galactic laws, yet was treated like a prisoner all because your dearest Azrael, just had to teach me a lesson." He scoffed and pointed a blue-skinned finger at her. "Face it Ana. The Mandos are just great big galactic bullies. No matter how you feel about me, you know that's the truth."

Realizing that he was losing his composure, Cryax swallowed and took a deep breath. All he really needed to do was to keep Anastasia talking. No more. No less. To drive her away with his caustic tone would not please the Unmaker and would probably result in getting his mother and his lover killed. When Anastasia said that she was sorry, it tugged at his heart. She was so sweet. It was one of the things he loved about her. But ultimately it was one of the things that made her so ridiculously easy for him to exploit. He blinked and transformed his face into another mask of self-pity. "I can't even tell you the horrible things they did to me, Ana, the Yuuzhan Vong and the Graug. They whipped me, put insects into my flesh, tortured me with Yammosk-induced nightmares in my sleep, carved things into my chest."

"How can you help me? My sources have told me that you're training to be a Jedi now. I implore you to help get the Jedi involved in purging these monsters from the galaxy."

[member="Anastasia Rade"]

 

[Dredge]

[member="Cryax Bane"] [member="Anastasia Rade"]

What Ana and even Cryax did not know was a trap was set for the woman, she was to be taken alive and brought back to Dredge so he could get a few things out of her. Inside the very room they stood in and the halls outside dozens of Yuuzhan Vong maskers were in position and ready to strike. The force dead creatures could not be sensed and their presence was completely hidden to those within the room. The maskers moved as silent as a shadow in the night, their bodies cloaked with the images in the room their forms moving invisible to the naked eye. Coming through the hallway and into the room over a dozen maskers were inside and the trap was sprung.

A Yammosk tapped into Cryax's brain and forced him to push a button under his desk that sent the room into lockdown. The light above flicked red and the windows became ray shielded, there was no escaping from that room. The door leading inside snapped down with shielding and the maskers uncloaked to be fourteen strong inside the room with more waiting outside.

Contorted twisted and evil beings stepped forward surrounding the woman, they appeared as humanoid figures but where people had faces and distinguishing features these men did not. They had no faces, no clothing, and were covered in head to toe in sick pale flesh that clung to the bodies beneath. With them the maskers held rifle shaped weapons that were covered in the sick pale flesh as well. The Vong trained their force dead weapons on Ana and Cryax then waited as the first Vong in front changed into a black eyed being with many tattoos and scars. He stepped forward and spoke to Ana and Wretch, it was a Vong being controlled by a Yammosk to send a message from Dredge.

"Oh this is just so priceless, the sister of the infamous Mandalore himself. I must say Wretch you really deliver." The Vong didn't waste much time and it spoke again as the forces moved around to keep their rifles aimed at Ana

"Do you remember Vorzyd? You resist me and I will kill the prisoners taken from that battle. Though I admit death would be a mercy at this point." The Vong smiled at the mando then the face molded back into that faceless flesh mask and rifle.

 

[Anastasia Rade]

"He saw me hurt and distraught. Az was only doing what he felt he needed to in order to help me. It's all he has even done for me." Az was the only one in her life Ana could say with conviction that loved her unconditionally. He had seen her at the worst of times and at the best of times. He only wished to help her and to here Cryax say these things now angered her. She took a deep breath though and remembered her teachings.

When was he planning to apologize? Sneak into her wedding and say he was sorry? Didn't he know the damage was done and it was far too late? He had thrown her away like a rag doll when he was finished with her. Ana wasn't here for him, she was here for herself so she could see what plagued the Ravens. This way she could protect those that did care for her.

"The Jedi I am learning from are a peaceful sort. This threat is known but I didn't know how bad it was. I think..."

The woman's words were cut short by a red blinking light and than the room going into lockdown mode. Her gaze went from [member="Cryax Bane"] to around the room which soon was filled with hideous creatures. They looked to be made of flesh and nothing else. Ana had seen a lot of gross things in her life but this was something else. It made her skin crawl just looking at it.

The thought that this had been a trap did not cross her mind. Cryax was cruel but he wouldn't dare hurt her like this not when she was actually willing to assist. He had been tricked as well. "I don't believe you. Your not kind enough to kill them," she yelled back at the voice.

Getting up from the chair she pulled out her saber and ignited it as she realized they were surrounded. No matter what she did the prisoners would be tortured and she taken.

The feisty blonde wasn't going down without a fight though as she swung the saber at a few of the flesh things.

[member="Dredge"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

Of course Anastasia would defend Azrael. What else did he expect? It angered Cryax that all of these Mandos could be so blind to their own audacious behavior, bullying others under the pretense of "family," and he had to get in one more dig in. He ran his fingers through his blue-black hair and cleared his throat. "There is a saying on Csilla that goes something like, well, I won't say it in Cheunh, but the Basic translation is something like, 'Pulling someone down will never lift you to the top.' That, Ana, is how I feel about the Mandalorians. And you can tell Azrael I said that, too."

Suddenly, Cryax felt Dredge once again wrest control of his muscles and surreptitiously press the panic button under his desk. As the red lights flashed and the sirens whooped, the Chiss crime boss scanned his red eyes around the room. This wasn't how the plan was supposed to go, and sudden fear that Dredge changed his mind about their original arrangement in favor of simply killing them both made his adrenaline spike. Then suddenly the room was filled with nightmarish faceless flesh creatures, and the sight of them had Cryax's stomach turning. No. No. No. No. No. This definitely wasn't part of the plan.

Cryax hopped back to avoid the arc of Anastasia's saber and pulled out his blaster, aiming it at as many of the faceless creatures as he could, firing at them out of pure panic. He almost couldn't bear to watch. Now that he was faced with the reality of what was going to happen to Ana, he started to have deep regrets about bringing her here. As trembling arms, held the blaster in a death grip, he had to remind himself that he had no choice in the matter. That Dredge would kill his mother if he didn't do as the Unmaker asked, and it was likely, he'd raise Cidaxi Bane from the dead afterwards only to kill her again and again in front of her only son.

[member="Anastasia Rade"] [member="Dredge"]

 

[Dredge]

[member="Anastasia Rade"] [member="Cryax Bane"]

The woman swung her saber and decapitated the first Vong masker, the creatures body fell to the floor along with it's toppling head and rifle. Upon hitting the ground the body twitched and writhed slightly. Joining his comrade a second Vong masker had a saber glance across his throat, making choking and gagging sounds the faceless creature hit the deck and died. The remaining dozen began to fan backwards and fire their rifles at the mando. Dart like quills of force dead munitions poofed out of the rifles in near silent wisps of air. The darts coated with paralysis cocktails were fired at the mando from multiple angles in a half oval so fire didn't overlap and hit their fellow brethren.

While doing this Cryax had fired a few rounds and ventilated the chest of a masker. The rounds past through it and scorched the wall behind the demented creature. When the corpse hit the ground a washing feeling of control came over Cryax and he would be forced to point the weapon at his own head from beneath his chin.

"Ah ah ah, Cryax. You stay right where you are. I want you to watch your betrayal." The demonic voice of Dredge radiated in his head and if the chiss didn't want a hole in his head he would stand down.

The faceless flesh masked Vong kept up a torrent of dart fire aimed at the woman, she may have been tough but eventually one of those darts would hit a hand or opening in the armor. One of the Vong stepped back from the formation and drew a sick jagged blade from the back of it's leg. The living force dead knife glinted in the red light and the Vong crept down to maneuver and flank the woman

 

[Anastasia Rade]

Wait...watch his betrayal? Had Cryax planned this with these things? The young woman didn't want to believe that he had gone all bad. It was possible that he had and Ana was just stupid enough to fall for it.

She wanted to turn and yell at Cryax but that wouldn't solve her problem or get the woman out of the bind she currently was in. Even with the Force as an ally there was only so much that Ana was able to do to deflect the dart fire that was headed in her direction. Her saber glided from left to right as she went after the darts that were headed straight for her.

This whole thing was a nightmare and Ana hoped beyond anything that this was just that. The last thing Ana wanted was to be a prisoner again not after having tasted freedom. She had even found a man she wished to spend the rest of her life with and have a family. That dream couldn't just be ripped from her, no..

As hard as the woman tried one of the darts did hit her in the hand and made her quite woozy but she kept on swinging though it was less precise now. A second dart hit her between the armor. Trying to stand still she took a few steps back trying to regain her balance.

The view of the Chiss wasn't even in her range at the moment as she stumbled a bit surrounded by the Force dead creatures. What was in the dart that was making her feel this way?

Soon she would be on the floor or unwillingly grabbed by one of those things. Stumbling into one she screamed as she jumped swinging again as she fell.


[member="Cryax Bane"][member="Dredge"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

Anastasia had obviously learned to hone her Jedi powers with the Silver Jedi as he'd heard, and she wielded the saber impressively. As the faceless flesh creatures began to fall, Cryax felt a rush of hope that he and Anastasia would somehow be able to fight them off. Then there was the familiar seizure in his muscles that signaled that Dredge was about to take control of his obedient little Chiss puppet. Fighting the coup on his body with every ounce of strength he had, he finally lost that battle and found himself turning his blaster, so that he jabbed the barrel underneath his chin. The metal of the weapon felt cold against his flesh, and his eyes widened with fear that Dredge would move his own finger to make him fire.

Cryax watched the Vong advance on Anastasia with a sharpened blade. The whole scene brought on a heady flashback from the omen, one involving the Yuuzhan Vong child gleefully slicing into his chest with her rusty knife. All of those things that happened to him were going to happen to her, and he loathed himself for it. Maybe I should just pull the trigger and do the galaxy a favor, he mused darkly. His will to live had dimmed to an ember lately, but despite his dark thoughts, he found that it still burned. He was still being forced to do this, he reminded himself. Anyone else in his position would do the same, wouldn't he?

Saying nothing more, the terrified Chiss waited, frozen in place, holding the blaster to his chin as he watched Anastasia fall to the ground.

[member="Anastasia Rade"] [member="Dredge"]

 

[Dredge]

[member="Cryax Bane"] [member="Anastasia Rade"]

Ana had fought well, just not well enough. Dropping another two flesh masked creatures the pair of Yuuzhan Vong maskers hit the ground in pieces of hot glowing saber wounds. The remaining eight maskers kept up their fire and successfully taken her down to the floor. Everything was going exactly to plan. Soon they would take her to Dredge and he would have some fun with her, spending long hours torturing the mando. It was time for penance for the Mandolorian kind, they had humiliated him and defeated him so many times. But now he would make them regret the day they heard the name Dredge.

The masker with the knife crept upon the woman and was soon upon her holding the knife to her throat. In a raspy and evil voice it snickered then spoke in hushed tones.

"Mandolorian queen, we are going to have so much fun making you bleed." The creature aimed it's knife at her neck and was about to carve a few marks into her, but before that could happen the woman used her last bit of strength and cut the head from atop his shoulders. The dead head fell to the floor and the body slumped over to the down against Her keeping Ana and her saber pinned under it's literal dead weight. The other maskers watched their comrade die and gave out low growls of anger. Lifting up and firing a few more darts at Ana's unmoving body they would keep her there.

Using Cryax as a meat puppet Dredge stepped into the mind of the chiss and walked over to the daughter of planet mandore and stood above her looking down at her face with a sick little grin. He moved nothing like the man and had an entirely new persona about him.

"Cryax died a long time ago my child. And soon, you will join him." The last thing Ana would see would be a powerful boot aimed at her head, it was meant to knock out and not kill. He needed her alive for now. But when the mando awoke it would be to something very new and very terrible.

 

[Anastasia Rade]

The last bit of strength Ana had was used to kill the thing that had dared to call her a queen. Nobody ever would call her that again. The Mandalorian wouldn't stand for it ever again. She would not go back to that place again as a weak and helpless child.

As her saber successfully connected with creature which put a smile on her face but the body fell upon her pinning Ana to the ground. Twisting and squirming a bit Ana did her best to try and break herself free. The weight however was too much for her to lift not to mention she was still being pummeled with darts. Darts which seemed only to serve to slow her down.

The more she struggled the more the darts were thrown her way it seemed. The struggling stopped as the body of Cryax stepped over to her and spoke. Tears wheled up in the corner of her eyes as fiercely struggled against the weight giving it her all once again. No, she was not going to become his puppet. Ana was getting out of there. The struggle ended as a boot hit her in the head.

The visions of knocked out Ana were ones of happiness and laughter. A fairy tale vision really. The terrors of what awaited the woman when she opened her eyes were nowhere to be seen.

As Ana read her holomail on her data pad a toddler jumped up on the couch next to her with a book. Excitedly he shoved it in front of her to show her what he had found. "Can you read to us?" His baby blue eyes questioned as he turned to her.

Setting the datapad down Ana smiled as she took the book from him and patted the empty space next to her for the second toddler to sit next to her. "Of course," she smiled leaning up to pick up the youngest of the three to sit on her lap. Opening up the book she began from the beginning. "Once upon a time..."

Ana groaned as she awoke placing a hand to her pounding head. Tying to sit up on the floor she glanced around the gray cell wondering where she was and what had happened. At this very moment she couldn't recall the last several hours. The only thing she did know was that once her vision cleared up she was finding a way out.


[member="Cryax Bane"][member="Dredge"]

 

[Dredge]

[member="Anastasia Rade"]
Location: Undisclosed section of Wild Space
Objective: Put on a show before the crescendo.

Ana awoke into a plain grey cell nothing out of the ordinary, next to her was a plate of food and a cup of water. She was stripped of her clothing and was now wearing tattered and bloody rags, her hands were bound by a pair of cuffs and in front of her in another cell besides her was a human who was reading a magazine. The human reading a magazine flipped the page and spoke in a gruff voice.

"Don't worry kid, he ain't gonna kill you. At least not yet. Needs you alive, to hurt more of our kind. I will tell you something now, I suggest you listen." The man lowered the magazine and his face was fucking horrific to say the least. He was missing both of his eyes and the left half of his face was all but torn off to reveal his festering teeth and jawline. Bits of his skull shined through his skin and upon the right side of his face it was burnt and marred beyond any recognition. However in the middle of his forehead was a black burnt sigil that Dredge used to brand Mandolorians. This man was a POW from Vorzyd. How long had he been here? Months? Long enough to memorize every word in that magazine apparently if he could read it without eyes.

He approached Ana and put his hand on the bars between them.

"Do not resist Lord Dredge. It will only bring you more pain." The man would be crying if he had eyes, the mando was just so broken at this point. "Be strong daughter of Mandalore." And then everything got more weird.

The floor beneath Ana cut open in a trap door and she fell into hell. Hundreds of screaming people cried out in help and she was dropped into the center of it in a large torture pit. Above the pit a band of human slaves were blasting a very aggressive song to fuel the fires of hate.

Musical score:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=VDsaNnQnd7U

When Ana would open her eyes it would be to one of the most horrific sights she had ever seen. Hundreds of slaves in a free for all were running for their lives, all around her Graug chased down running slaves to rape, eat, murder, and hang their victims. Bodies littered the floor in pools of blood, savage Graug feasted upon their bones their mouths slick and red with hot blood that stained their jagged fangs.

Yuuzhan Vong put slaves on their knees in organized lines for sacrifice to the gods. A Vong ten feet from Ana disemboweled a slave and removed her head to kick it away like a ball. Others bent slaves over and slit their throats to collect their blood for the gods and later. Kaalonian warriors executed and devoured corpses much like the Graug and the woman was standing there to whiteness it all.

Above in a glass sky lounge Dredge stood next to a unwilling [member="Cryax Bane"] and forced him to watch it all. He could see it all, the metal band above blasting their sick tunes. The rape, murder, torture, all of it burned into his eyes.

"You know Wretch, I have to say you really delivered. Here I am with the Mandolorian's precious princess, I dare say I am pleased. Tell you what, for your betrayal of your former lover I'm going grant you one favor."

 

[Cryax Bane]

Standing next to Dredge in his sky lounge, Cryax knew better not to look away. Disobeying Dredge was a one-way ticket to painville, and he was simply too broken to fight or to try to play the hero. Watching the vile scene below wasn't easy, and a few times the Chiss had to force the bile back down into the bottom of his throat with a ragged swallow. It hurt him to watch as Anastasia was terrorized, as she has spent half of her life trying to escape bad memories of being abused the Graug. To know that he himself was a part of the danse macabre below, filled him with shame and self-disgust. Finding himself disconnected from reality for a moment, he started to wonder if perhaps Cryax Bane, the person he thought he was, had never existed, and maybe he was merely the same kind of monster as Dredge. Why else would he be here watching these horrible things?

He didn't have time to further entertain that line of thinking as Dredge addressed him. The Chiss crime boss cut his sunken red eyes sideways towards the overlord. Dredge was offering a favor, but he had come to discover that those favors were merely ways for the Yuuzhan Vong to get Cryax's hopes up only to have them dashed again. Still if there were any chance in hell that Dredge's word was true, Cryax felt that he should make a request. He knew that releasing Anastasia was out of the question, as well as the removal of the Yorik-Kul. Dredge would laugh his face off at both of those appeals.

Perhaps it was a shot in the dark, but he had to try. "I'm well aware of the worth of your favors, Dredge," the Chiss growled. "But if you're truly granting me one, then mine would be for you to guarantee [member="Jalek Sathora"]'s safety. No matter what happens, do what you will to me, but leave him unharmed."

[member="Dredge"] [member="Anastasia Rade"]