Private What Are You Doing In My Swamp

[PERSENUS]

​

Air. He needed air. He struggled to break free from the grasp of his amphibious bounty hunter. He had thought himself finally safe from the Sith here on Naboo, where the Confederacy would halt any Sith Assassins, but Bounty Hunters sent by them were a trickier sort. He had killed five of the group that was on him, but two managed to get him into the water - and one was a fish. He had managed to stab one with their own vibroblade as he was incapable of using his Lightsaber underwater but now, the last Bounty Hunter was keeping him below the swamp water. He fought back, kicking, but he lacked the strength underneath the depths while his body was completely fine submerged. The Force was his advantage but the long, arduous battle had him winded from its use and fighting underwater as he struggled to climb for air robbed much of his focus and concentration.

Now, as the bubbles of carbon dioxide left his lips, caught in a stranglehold by the Bounty Hunter whom was dragging him deeper, he was feeling a familiar feeling creep up on him. Fear was knocking, saying death had arrived. Every part of his body ached, his lungs burned, and his hand was bleeding. Bleeding from what, though? As the hunter dragged him down, Perenus was still struggling physically to break free and he had grabbed hold with his two hands on a sharp pointed rock - an underwater stalagmite. With the hunter latched on behind him, he saw his only chance. Fear, anger, rage, desperation - his instincts kicking in to fuel the darkside, he would muster all of the strength he had to pull forward while his other hand grabbed his adversary's head.

He gasped for breath when he finally left the swamp depths. He spat out the water that had flooded his lungs, pounding himself in the chest to force it out. Crawling on the wetland, he collapsed, mentally and physically exhausted from the ordeal. He was wounded, aching - wet and hungry. He had just arrived here on Naboo on a smuggler's ship, only to be shot down on entry. The crash site of his stolen ship still burnt off in the distance. Turning himself over, he watched as the swamp fire caused by his crash spread around him. As he sat there, resting, he hoped that no one was coming to inspect the fires. But this was Naboo - meddlers are found in spades here, as his old master taught him.

Tark Kronen

 

[Tark Kronen]

The people of the near settlement here have grown wary... Which had reduced the viability of the settlement. Usually noone would mind if a few bandits died occasionally, but the scarcity had forced Tark to feed on a few of the homeless has caused suspicion, especially tonight's feeding had caused more suspicion, and he knew that they would narrow the list down to him. This meant he had to leave, but he didn't have ship money, he couldn't pilot, and no interplanetary transport was coming in the next month. He was stuck.

Seeing the fires bloom he would be the first to go closer, as the others were already afraid to leave their homes in this area.

He felt it... The familiar signature of the force and the even more familiar scent of desperation in the air as he approached. He was a tall man, and a large one as he would soon go through the shrubbery and appear in the wetlands, his bare feet fearlessly walking towards the man staining themselves in the mud. He would reach down and with a grab on the shoulder would easily lift the sith laying on the shore.

The fires around them, especially on the ship have extinguished, and the sith could probably feel that the cause was the man that came.

"You need help?"

 

[PERSENUS]

​

Perenus, his head still ringing, could not perceive the approaching footsteps. He was still seeing red, either through emotion or from the blood running down his temple that crossed his eyes. Perhaps it was both, nevertheless, he did not take well to being picked up, yet he could not do much about it. Perenus, upon being picked up, would begin to weakly struggle against the man's grasp, wriggling in the air as his body pounded with pain, each movement suddenly feeling like a new wound opening up as the adrenaline evacuated his body.

"Let go of me, oaf." The tattooed Echani commanded as he kicked against the man's chest. If he were to let go, or actually find that the kick was enough to warrant retreat, Perenus would fall harmlessly on the muddy ground, right next to one of the corpses of the hunters he had slain. There were two around him, one beside him with his jaw sliced off with his saber, and another with their back broken over a rock just across the lake. Two of the hunters were dead in the water, one floated up, the other kept below by the stalagmite run through his eye socket. There were five hunters in total, but the fifth hunter's body was not present, though he could remember deflecting a blaster bolt back towards him while he was on a tree - it hit and he fell off, and he does not remember where that happened exactly.

These armed Bounty Hunters have been following his track since, what, Klatooine? They've been watching him fight, learning how he moves. They knew he was on the run from his fellow Sith, but the Silver Jedi Concord was too much of a target for the Sith themselves - and far too close for comfort with the Sith's most active advances on them. The Confederacy was his best bet so his first instinct was to get as deep as possible - Sadly, they thought ahead.

Naboo is far too crowded a place to disappear into. What was he thinking?

 

[Tark Kronen]

The man would drop him the moment he felt resistance letting him land as he paid a brief look to the bounty hunters. As the sith fell in the mud the man would sigh, as he would start searching the bounty hunter corpses as he found some credits.

"Not enough..."

He looked at the sith as the sith would feel someone else invading his mind.

"We both seem to want to not be on this planet. Let's help eachother, or I can let someone else find you. I wouldn't bet those guys came alone."

He said as he offered the man his hand so he can help him get up on his feet.

 

[PERSENUS]

Perenus would ignore his hand, standing up my himself but stumbling off, ending him having to support himself on a tree. He wiped the ichor running down his face, trying to regain his composure and his energy, calming his labored and hurried breaths. His spat out the last of the water inside him which was mixed with blood. Amber eyes, characteristic of a Sith peered through over his shoulder at the newcomer. These were usually pale in coloration for most - Perenus being a master of hiding his nature on the Force from other individuals - but after the fight that had taken much of his energy out of him and called upon the raging forces of the Darkside to gain favor in the battle that had been riddling him with misfortune during and after he was unable to call upon the concentration and peace of mind to conceal the sickening alignment he had, yet he still had the Shields up to be able to keep his advances off his psyche. His presence was oozing about uncontrollably - on Naboo of all places.

"Do not touch me if you want to help with that hand. Keep your mind out of mine too, if you wish to keep your head." He warned gravely as he stood up straight, his lightsaber jangling off the scarf wrapped around his waist. "We must move quickly - the Knights Obsidian will might have felt the battle." He was in the heart of the enemy. He might not be part of the Empire but he was still a Sith nonetheless - a Sith that was burning down the swamps. They will not take kindly to his presence. Though he did not trust this stranger, he had little choice and little energy to expend killing him, seeing that he was rather obviously a more dangerous foe than a single of the Bounty Hunters here. "We must find refuge first. Do you have quarters where I may stowaway to devise an escape?"

Smuggling themselves upon a ship here would likely be more difficult, knowing Naboo's less criminally inclined climate and generally more solid lawmen. He didn't have the money to bribe, nor did it seem the hunters did. However, their weapons may find hands with more coin than theirs. "Let's take the weapons. They buy us some credits." He scavenged the bodies, taking a Disruptor Pistol from the corpse. It was illegal on Naboo, but it would still fetch a price. He found a few Hutt Coins on the body too, though useless in CIS space.

Tark Kronen

 

[Tark Kronen]

The man's look hardened at the man's words as he would scowl visibly.

"Do not threaten me... This is your final warning, one only given because we are both followers to the dark side. And please try to hide your presence in the force. They already caught the scent, so it's a matter if they can further track you and me."

He warned with a stern voice before waiting for the man to collect the loot as he would gesture for him to follow.

"I provide the shelter, but you will repay me by getting me off this planet."

He said as he noticed traces of life from one of the bounty hunters. He was severely hurt and unconscious but still alive, so he leaned down and flipped the body over his shoulder.

"This one will be of use."

He muttered as he started walking towards his shelter so to say.

 

[PERSENUS]

​

"Oh really now? Let's see you survive a space crash and get attacked by several bounty hunters after having fought through an entire shipment of smugglers on three hours of sleep and keep your presence clean. If I have to add you on the death toll I've racked up as of late, I'd probably write you in one-half." He remarked with a toothy grin, whether he was jesting or not remaining to be seen. He's lost count of how many people he's murdered and killed just to get in CIS space. He had toppled that entire tower of people in Nar Shadda and unleashed general chaos in the "northern" regions of known space. He was hoping his murder spree would stop once he was in the Confederacy, but it was foolish to assume that safety in a warring faction with the Sith was possible. "Get your head out of your arse before I pull it out myself. As I recall, you're asking me to get you off this blasted planet - all I need from you is shelter, and that is easy enough to find." Though to secure is another matter.

In just a moment, after he had recollected himself, his presence suddenly became null. The vile yellow eyes characteristic of his lot would disappear into an ocean of deep blue. He wasn't only hiding his nature from the force, but his presence itself became devoid. He was a master of Force Stealth, after running from his own former comrades for years. All the while, his stamina began to recover. He's been in constant exhaustion for years now - recovering his energy took only a pinch out of the fight. This time was no exception as the pain was alleviated from his sore body, and his breathing became calm once more.

Tark Kronen

 

[Tark Kronen]

The man's face remained unimpressed by the other man's speech as he merely rolled his eyes with crossed hands.

"Yeah, yeah whatever, you are very "powerful" and all. Now let's go to the shelter before an esquadron of light side users drops on us. My activity has been suspicious enough so far to walk on edge."

He gestured for the man to follow. He only pointed his hand at the ship as the steel whined as it was bent. The ship and the forest were no longer on fire as the ship moved upright as the man headed there.

"It's on the way anyway. Let's see what it has."