Into the Galaxy

[Cen Tessek]

[member="Usa'ar Obath"]

"You and me both. Now stop complaining, we need to focus on the escape," he uttered. His gaze warily shifted to make eye contact with the droid, eying him with very, very evident distrust, despite the fact he was using him as a personal crutch. "So who the hell are you, exactly?" The droid beeped cheerfully and responded with great enthusiasm, "I am TP-10D, TP stands for 'To (the) Point' and 10D stands for '10 Decillion' because, in accordance to my production slogan, I am accurate to the tenth decillion percentile in aim! However, that is not true, evident by the fact I missed one!" Cen could practically sense the droid's invisible smile through its three tubular eye sensors, whose unblinking vigil seemed to radiate pure happiness. It was almost suffocating but at least his benevolence was so overwhelming that it, without doubt, meant no harm.

"Alright, let's try and find a grate or sewer entrance, please. It'll be easier to avoid both flames and troopers if we go underground than over it. Besides, we need to head to the underbelly anyway," he continued, waving a hand off into the field of burning junk to unleash Usa and release him to the wilderness. "So, TP-10D, what one did you miss?"

"Well, that one, Harbinger!"

The wall of flames before them seemed to part as the shadowy form walked forward, his step heavy and urgent as he closed in on the group. The Sith's robes were now tattered, flapping wildly in the hot air as the wind surged and collapsed, spraying mad dust devils wild with cinders across the ground. His lightsabre extended with a buzz as he approached and his hood tossed back, exposing a torn and oddly dislocated expression of torment. The pale skin began to peel away, exposing a mass of writhing metal beneath beneath, his head turning bulbous and lopsided like a sack of wringing snakes, threatening to pop like a bursting pimple. The pale mask he wore bubbled and melted away in the heat, leaving only the iron cranium left exposed, its glowering emerald eyes burning alight amidst the orange flame that flurried around it.

"Indeed, you little ones have certainly caused a lot of trouble..."

 

[Usa'ar Obath]

Usa'ar felt his stomach lurch when he saw the Sith Knight. There was no way he could've survived that airstrike. It was impossible. Yet here he stood, with more wrath and repulsiveness than before. Usa'ar slowly looked at Cen. "Remember when you said you'd take care of any lightsabre-wielders...?" He trailed off, his attention caught by the Sith, moving closer to them. "I don't think there's much here I can do."

Usa'ar started taking steps back, even though he knew it would be fruitless. In his battered state, there was little chance he could outrun a Sith warrior. He started looking around, trying to locate an escape route or even a simple blaster that might possibly aid in the fight. His eyes set on the abandoned rocket launcher from the first wave of troops, laying half-under the smoldering remains of a trooper.. Unfortunately, it was BEHIND the Sith. How can I reach it...? he lost his train of thought as the Knight started to charge.

 

[Cen Tessek]

[member="Usa'ar Obath"]

As the robes slipped away into the raging, spark-filled wind of smoke and flame, the robotic form underneath was revealed in all of its metallic wonder, reflecting the wild colors of flame along the glowing-orange edges ripe with heat. He was a Shard, a crystalline being confined to a metallic, robotic shell from which it could become mobile, and this particular one was a foul, demented creature of hate and rage. Its green eyes pulsed horror manifested in light as it shot through the walls of flame and ash, closing in on the party with lightsabre alight, held tightly in two clamped fist and positioned over his shoulder. The moment he would reach them it would be over, the motion of the blade so strong they would have neither time to dodge nor strength to block.

Cen stumbled forth from TP's embrace, crumpling to his knees before shakily pulling himself upright, igniting the crimson sabre of Karr Dalmos and charged. His lurching gate was awkward at first until he picked up speed; he charged off to meet the monster in mid flight in an attempt to stop its speed with some of his own. "Oh, little one," it rasped as their blades collided in a shower of sparks, the force of the iron-thing's blow so strong it tore Tessek's blade away. Thankfully, the use of inertia worked, the Shard's own blade bouncing away as well. Cen retreated a meter; he eyed the Sith with blade at the ready, but the creature only stood back and observed. Its slim, featureless face was only graced by those deep, round eyes, jade in color and unsettling in its deep, living gaze. He was unsettled, and with the first of his shivers the monster struck; it lunged forward in a fierce uppercut that disarmed Cen (not literally this time) and sent his blade spiraling off towards his defenseless party.

 

[Usa'ar Obath]

Don't see me don't see me don't see me oh Force don't see me, Usa'ar frantically thought as he limped as quietly as he could across the debris-strewn battlefield to get closer to the beautiful rocket launcher. Every step he took was cautious; he just hoped Cen could hold him off for a little bit longer.

A sudden burst of flame roared out in front of him. His armor could block it out for a little, but it was torn in some places and he wasn't sure if he wanted to risk getting overwhelmed by fire and possibly burning to death. Usa'ar looked back and saw Cen's lightsabre fly off towards the droid. Stall, Cen, stall! Usa'ar was so close now. Every crunch of his boots on the ground felt incredibly loud, as if it would scream to the Sith where he was. Braving the fire, Usa'ar hurried through, but he caught his foot on a metal pole and tripped, creating a small reaction of noises. Without bothering to look to see if the Knight had seen him, Usa'ar lunged for the rocket launcher and quickly turned to face where Cen and the Shard were fighting.

 

[Cen Tessek]

[member="Usa'ar Obath"]

The Shard grasped out at the air and Cen felt a great pressure clench at his throat. Slowly, as the breath was chocked out of him, he felt himself levitated into the open air; his legs kicked and squirmed to fight the malevolent touch of this dark presence of the Force, but it was pointless. TP, in the distance, had retrieved his lightsabre and attempted to free his Harbinger, yet with the flick of a finger the Shard sent him into a massive tumble through a burning mound of garbage. "You are so weak," remarked the Sith, who casually approached the levitating Cen with hands stroking and petting at the cinderblown air. "I expected a challenge, that is why I came out here after all. Look at all this, a letdown, truly."

The ruby blade of his sabre retracted with a fizzle, his smooth, featureless face seeming to grin in the flickery firelight. "The name's Animar, by the way," he commented in his rigid, mechanical voice, his hollow green eyes portraying the grinning glee of a fresh jack o' lantern. "Darth Animar, pleasure to, uh... meet you." He offered a curt bow then proceeded to place the deactivated lightsabre's head against Cen's belly. "I really should wrap this up, they'll want a report after all and... well, I hate paperwork. I don't have the gull to sit on my ass and play games with you all night, so I guess this is goodnight, ain't it little guy?"

 

[Usa'ar Obath]

Usa'ar lined up the holographic sight behind the Sith, at his feet. Cen really was too close for comfort. The blast could easily kill them both, and Usa'ar only had one rocket. He simply hoped the Shard would absorb most of the blast, shielding Cen. When he saw the Sith place the lightsaber on Cen, Usa'ar wasted no more time thinking, and fired the huge weapon.

It sailed through the air, detonating a few feet short of the Knight. A blast of plasma and smoke flew forth, seemingly erupting from the Earth itself, throwing its fury. Smoke from the blast and the fires running rampant filled the battlefield, forcing Usa'ar to hobble to the edge of the junkyard. The smoke was too thick to see through. He crawled under it and sat underneath the edge of a building right on the edge of the junkyard, eyes trained to the smoggy warzone, waiting to see if Cen survived.

 

[Cen Tessek]

[member="Usa'ar Obath"]

Over the past day, Cen had enough venture to last a lifetime. He felt half-deaf from the explosions, he felt half-blind from the explosions (I guess the more technical term for it would be three-quarters blind, he thought), and above all, he felt like he was about to suffer a chronic case of shell shock for the rest of his life from the explosions. He rolled about, desperately trying to clue in on his situation, but all he could see was the thick cloud of glowering smoke that rested high above the ground as a vast, smoldering harbinger of their demise. He quickly pulled himself up, but his ribs had apparently cracked, only earning him a cry of pain before he fell back down to the scrap below.

Meanwhile, near Usa the vast cloud of debris parted, revealing the mechanical gaunt form in whole. It pulled itself free from the crater in which it landed, with chunks of plating peeled back by the blast, exposing the illuminated inner core. Its arm pistons squealed as it shifted into movement, its motors pumping its legs up and down as it stepped clear of the debris. It shed various chunks of its out body like a dog's winter coat; the scrap metal rained about and its arm seemed to loosen and fall after the elbow joint cracked and popped off. The limb dangled limply from a few stray wires before they too snapped and let it fall to the ground. In his other hand, however, was the lightsabre, soon ignited with the press of a thumb, soon the only thing visible in the stretching shadow that loomed over from a newly blossomed fire save for those deathly jade eyes. "Oh, I had forgotten about you," he said in crackling voice emanated from an injured vocoder.

Rising from the distant ashes, TP pulled himself free from the ruinous remains of a tattered door, readjusting his tubular head cylinders to refocus his cone-shaped eyes on the situation at hand.

 

[Usa'ar Obath]

Usa'ar sat there, panting, trying to regain his breath. He gazed into the flames and the smoke, trying to spot Cen or even that odd droid. For a moment, he saw nothing but the thick gray haze. Then, a red lightsaber stood out. Cen? Or the Sith? the smoke began to die down as the fire ran out of things it could consume. The scene focused. That wasn't Cen. It was the Knight. "Oh, I had forgotten about you," it said directly to him, with its voice glitching in and out. Crap.

Usa'ar quickly looked down at his utility belt to see if he had anything he could use to defend himself. A knife, a grappling hook, and his small fusion cutter for repairing the ship. Nothing he would want to use against a Sith. He grabbed his fusion cutter with both hands, sending out a short burst of plasma to make it sure it was still operational. The half-destroyed Sith Shard almost seemed to smile at his excuse for a weapon.

"Oh, you shut up," Usa'ar growled.

 

[Cen Tessek]

[member="Usa'ar Obath"]

TP had found Cen collapsed against a pile of discarded rebar. "Harbinger," it whispered slowly, careful not to startle him. "What the hell happened? I was being choked and then everything went black!" exclaimed Cen, forcing himself upright with a wince. "I thought I died!"

"Mentally, yes. Part of you is probably dead from excessive emotional trauma. You meatbags are fragile."

"Where's my lightsabre, uh..."

"TP."

"Yes, TP, where is it?"

"Where is what?"

"My LIGHTSABRE!"

TP extended a claw, clamped tightly over the blade's deactivated shaft, offering it to the disoriented Cen. "I kept it safe Sith Lord codenamed Blue a-"

Cen snatched the blade and woozily stood up, shaking his head to free him from the clutches of drowsiness. All the training in the world could not prepare you for reality, he judged. No, you need to go out and get experience to become capable at handling this kind of stuff. I guess I should be thankful but really this might just be a bit too much. Who am I kidding? This is awful. He glanced further in the Wicko junkyard and saw the flash of Animar's red blade. Panic overwhelmed him with the realization that the droid-creature was still alive, and worse, probably after his starpilot. He wrapped an arm around TP's skeletal shoulder and pointed towards the blade's glow through the smoldering rubble, "Help me over there. If we can't stop that thing Usa's dead!"

 

[Usa'ar Obath]

Usa'ar was sweating furiously. He gripped the fusion cutter with all his strength. It was most likely that if he made contact with the Sith's lightsabre, it would be cut in two. So he would have to wait for an opening, if possible, and strike at the droid's last arm, allowing Usa'ar to get away. Or, if it was weak enough, just kill it. But he would have to survive long enough for that to happen. And have lots of luck.

The Sith took a few steps in and swung the sabre with a clean, powerful cut, narrowly missing Usa'ar as he had leaped backwards to get away from the deadly blade. No opening yet. It then lunged at him, and Usa'ar had to make a quick, yet very painful dive to the left, rolling up to a crouch, hands still holding his only weapon. Why did I even think I could best a Sith Knight, even for a second?

The Shard continued moving at Usa'ar. "Cen! Droid-thing! If you're out there, I need you!" He wasn't going to evade the evil red blade much longer.

 

[Cen Tessek]

[member="Usa'ar Obath"]

The Sith chuckled in his monotone voice as he swung lightly, even playfully, at the starpilot. "You can certainly move, I'll give you that," he commented as he attempted to force Usa'ar back further, to push him into the open flame that soared behind him. He laughed thunderously and gave another swing, but this time it was halted. Cen stood between him and Usa, his own lightsabre locked against Animar's; his arms shook as they struggled to hold his strength against the Knight's weight. It had only one arm, but it pressed its metal body against him, which forced his knees to buckle under the pressure. Swiftly, Cen dodged to the left, the Sith's unstoppable blade slamming into the ground in a spray of crimson sparks.

The droid approached Cen from behind, clapping its metal mitts together excitedly. "Pilot-One," he rumbled. "We must assist the Blue-One."

 

[Usa'ar Obath]

Usa'ar thought it was over until Cen had leaped out in front of blocked the blade. Cen even seemed to be able to match the Sith, at least for awhile. Now was an opportunity. If the Sith's attention was focused on Cen, then Usa'ar could find an opening to strike with the cutter, hopefully doing some damage. First, he took note of TD, and urgently commanded him to find a rifle, or pistol, or... anything, instead of just watching. The droid gleefully accepted orders, as long as it would benefit Cen.

Usa'ar watched as the Shard turned away to confront Cen once more. Their blades locking for a few seconds as Cen struggled to hold it back. Now's the time, he thought to himself, charging at the Knight and slamming the plasma-emitting fusion cutter into the mechanical figure's neck, half-severing its head. Without turning to regard him, Animar kicked back one of its legs, striking Usa'ar in the thigh before he could completely slice the Shard's head off, and sending him staggering back. "Cen, use your speed," he gasped. "He's got power, I'll give him that, but his head's basically dangling there!"

 

[Cen Tessek]

[member="Usa'ar Obath"]

Cen tightened his grip on the lightsabre, winding it back like a batter preparing for a home run; this was it, his moment to shine, he was going to decapitate this monster and send him hurtling back to the Hell from whence he came. "Cen," it moaned in a broken voice, its lightsabre deactivating as it fell from its slackened hand. Tessek froze with fear with widened eyes. "W-What? How?" he began until the metal snapped out and clenched his throat. It began to squeeze the life from him, no energy put into pulling him from the ground, it simply held him there, strangling him in a inhumane grip. Cen gasped and kicked at the monster, but the blows resounded off and the only response was the pain in his foot and the tightening of the monster's grip.

It laughed, its thumb running up along his chin before releasing, leaving Tessek heaving for breath and lurching forward. His hand darted out, shoving deep within Cen's pocket and retrieving the small, forgotten datachip. "And I thought you would leave me hanging..."

 

[Usa'ar Obath]

We went through all this for the stupid datachip and now he has it?! Usa'ar suddenly felt very, very angry. With a primal growl, he charged at Animar, cutter held high. He wasn't expecting, however, the blast of Force that sent him sprawling in the dirt.

"Well, boys, it's been a real pleasure. but I'm afraid I have to be getting back, and with this, it might just be worth the casualties. Two little infiltrators trying to sneak into Coruscant, carrying a secret datachip... Delightful." It laughed a hideous laugh and began walking away, until he was obscured by the smoke and the fumes. Usa'ar felt utterly defeated.

And just like that, it was silent.

 

[Cen Tessek]

[member="Usa'ar Obath"]

Cen collapsed into the dirt on all fours and began panted; he looked like a blue dog as he crouched there, desperately gasping in the air to refill his lungs. "Dammit," he muttered in between the inhales, his fingers digging into the dirt as he glanced about for his discarded lightsabre. Slamming his fists into the ground he yelled out, "DAMMIT!" He pulled away, sitting atop his legs with his hands resting on his lap. His pink eye was closed while his red eye squinted out, scanning the environment for the Sith. But he was gone, there was no hope of finding him now. TP appeared beside him, a monogrip hand rested on Cen's should for reassurance. "Blue-One, Avatar of Fate, Harbinger-"

"Enough, already," interrupted Cen.

The droid fell silent, but with an outstretched hand he deposited Cen's lightsabre and slunk away to assist Usa'ar. "Pilot-One, have any of your internal organs ceased to function or perhaps has your appendix ruptured?"

 

[Usa'ar Obath]

Usa'ar spent a few minutes sitting there, contemplating the turn of events. What would be their next step? Would they just part ways, having done their jobs? Or they could hunt down that scruffy nerf-herder of a Sith and take the datachip back.

"Cen," Usa'ar said, getting up and standing next to him. "Just think - an inexperienced Force-user and a pilot killed two trooper squads and nearly killed a Sith Knight. We can't just give up on this. Then again, we need to work some things out." Usa'ar began pacing back and forth, thinking out loud. "I need a ship, and you need to be able to last more than 4 seconds in lightsaber combat... or develop some Force tricks. Then we come back, hunt this son of a gun down and smash his crystalline body into a fine powder." He smiled at the thought.

"Come on, Cen. This isn't the end. Only a beginning."

 

[Cen Tessek]

[member="Usa'ar Obath"]

Cen slowly nodded then paused; his eyes grew distant and glossy in thought. He was weak, he knew that. Yet, would that weakness be overcome? Was he capable of that? He hit the activator of his lightsabre, drawing the long plasma blade from its small, metal sheath. It hummed softly and glowed a hateful, hateful red. He watched it, the occasionally smoldering scrap of ash blown into it by the wing evaporating in a bright flash of light as it kissed the blade. He stood like this for awhile, the smell of smoke overwhelming his lungs which begged him to cough, the sound of the burning flame as it engulfed the scrapyard as the wind whistled heavily, and that taste of blood on his mouth, the coppery flavor that seemed to rot his taste buds with disgust.

"You're right," he finally said with a heavy certainty weight on his voice. The lightsabre deactivated with a fizzle and found itself on Cen's utility belt once again. "We did almost succeed and if we work to grow stronger we'll be more than a match for that creature."

TP chose this golden moment to chime in with that almost unnerving cheery, metallic voice, "I deduce that you did so well primarily as a consequence of a severely warped deduction in brain process, primarily resulting in a loss of the so-called sense of 'self-preservation.'"

"What he said," continued Cen. "I'll find a teacher among the city's underbelly whilst you find a ship. However, it may be a good long time before I'm independent enough to continue hunting Animar, so we need to make use of our time wisely. I want you to get us some money, a good amount, capable of financing a good, big ship and a lot of other, more expensive stuff too that I have in mind. Don't worry, we'll need it. TP-10D can go with you."

TP loosed a cheerful whistle at the mention of his name.

"That thing knew my name... and if what you've said is true, he now has the schematics to the legendary Voidnought. We'll need training, we'll need a ship, we'll need supplies, we'll need a weapon, and most importantly, we'll need allies. We're all responsible for this, not only do we have a score to settle, we're completely responsible for that monster's actions using that datachip. We need to stop him."

 

[Usa'ar Obath]

"We're in this way too deep to back out now. It'll be rough starting from nothing, but I'm sure we can do it. Maybe TD will finally prove himself useful." Usa'ar sighed. What a long adventure. And yet it has hardly begun. "I'll see what I can do about the ship. I have a couple of contacts in the area, I'm sure I can strike a deal with one of them." Usa'ar continued to pace. "Ah! So much to do. And as crazy as it sounds, I'm excited." Usa'ar smiled.

He reached out his hand to Cen. "Best of luck with your training. It's been an honor traveling with you, Cen. Even if you did stiff me out of three thousand credits." He gathered up his scattered belongings and tried to place them somewhere on his burnt and torn light armor. "Let's get a move on, TD. You know of anywhere I can get some nice armor?"

"Actually, I know of several places! Approximately 3.7 minutes from here at a standard walking pace lies a...." Usa'ar suddenly realized this droid might be more of a handful than he thought.

 

[Cen Tessek]

[member="Usa'ar Obath"]

Cen smiled as he gripped the man's hand and shook firmly. "I'll pay you back some other time, consider it an investment. I'll put it into a stock portfolio for you if the Sith have a market." He laughed and released then planted both hands firmly in his now depressingly empty pockets. There was a tinge of sadness to the separation, he felt oddly close to the pair even though one, up until now, had been little more than an obstacle, and he did not even remember the droid's name. Speaking of which: "Droid, where the hell did you come from?"

"Somewhere."

With that very, very vague and suspicious dodge of the question TP had turned away, evidently done with questions and ready to move. Cen could not blame him, he felt the same, and that odd coincidence brought a smile to his face. "Well, Usa, I guess we'll find each other again when the time is right. As all those Jedi blabber on about..." He clasped his hands together in prayer and commenced a mock sage nod. "The Force shall guide us together again."

It was on this note the party departed, going there separate ways until the near future in which they would be reunited once again. Yes, this story started like any other; the young and inexperienced, freshly independent child and his equally naive friend setting off into the new, unexplored world around them. The dangers behind them would soon be eclipsed by their ever growing obstacles, their weaknesses would vanish beneath the great shadows of their abilities. Yes, it started like any other; a pair of companions setting off Into the Galaxy.