Lightside Sith 017

Before setting off, Kaine had finalized the release of the gambling debtors with Bib Fortuna, completing his promise to Pablo. He then discreetly took a finger bone from the Jedi, and extracted some of his blood for future rituals. Finally, he cremated the Ongree, and had it shipped back to the Jedi Temple. Upon completing these tasks, he finally set out for his mission. A mission he was soon to regret…

It turns out environmental factors made [Hide Presence] a real hit or miss ability. 

Yeah, as it turned out, the Scraplands was one of the Republic's most popular dumping grounds for this sector of space. A metric fuckton of dust, toxic fumes, and nasty liquids coated every single last surface in this radioactive hellhole. It was fitting that just north of one of the most prosperous cities in the Mid Rim-a place famed for sex, drugs, and gambling-would lay one of the most nasty environments one could imagine. 

At first, Kaine had thought that Durge was using this mission as a test, to see if his potential business partner was tough enough. Now, Kaine saw this for what it really was! The big bad worm alien didn't want to get his fancy armor dirty! 

Trudging around a pool of black sludge, Kaine was wearing his cannon fodder Sith Warrior armor. The black cloak was even darker, and the grey metal plates were absolutely coated in some orange slime from a creature he had slain moments ago. Unfortunately, it was kind of difficult for [Hide Presence] to cloak him from the heightened predatory senses of these beasts when he was covered in goop, and a constant light sandstorm was buffeting his clothes. Never before had he ever wanted to set a trash heap on fire, but by the Force his Pureblood Sith genetics were calling for a genocide! 

Two hours into this trek, and he was so done with this nonsense. 

[Precognition] was triggered as he walked around the black patch, and foresaw a series of tree-trunk sized fleshy white tentacles snaked out of the puddle with the intent of dragging him under. Kaine grumbled in annoyance, and the second this vision came true, and a tentacle burst an inch out of the liquid, he pointed his finger at the tentacle channeling all his pent up annoyance. 

[Inflict Pain] saw all of the tentacles recoil back under the black morass faster than they had arrived. +2LP floated upwards, marking both his dominance, and his magnanimity for sparing a lesser being. 

Kaine barely paid the small gain any mind, as he had already collected dozens of such points due to the many, many encounters he had whilst spelunking this terrible place. 

To his left was a mountainous pile of rusted starfighter parts so tall, it could compete with a skyscraper. To the right was a lake of that black sludge. And in the center, a pair of Rancor were making love, the sound of which was something like a rampaging bull going wild. The tower of broken parts shuddered, and the lake of sludge rippled as these two beasts humped one another. 

“Explore the galaxy you said, it'd be fun you said!” Kaine bitched to himself as he sidestepped a pile of shit the size of an SUV. 

When people imagined Star Wars, they thought of the beautiful city of Theed, the expansive jungles of Kashyyyk, or the super city of Coruscant. They imagined how cool shooting lightning from their fingers would be, or chilling in their favorite cantina wearing a set of beskar. But what they didn't ever consider was how awful 90% of the galaxy was! 

Grumbling to himself, Kaine stabbed his lightsaber downward, piercing a circular, foot-sized ambush predator that looked like some aquatic monster from the depths of Earth's oceans. The thing was practically just a giant mouth with waaay too many teeth. It was about to latch onto his thigh the second he passed it by. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he began to sweep across the muddy ground in front of him, slaying a colony of such creatures. 

After this minor genocide, Kaine was feeling slightly refreshed. According to the data Durge had passed on, the Ten Mile Plateau should be three miles ahead. Ordinarily, he'd like to speed blitz that distance, as with his current level, running a mile in a straight line a minute wasn't impossible. However, there was so much debris, and dangers, he would only take that gamble if he was forced to. 

“Quick, this way!” A man on a speeder bike zoomed past him, and called out to a dozen other companions who had also arrived on speeders or swoops. 

They began to shoot out canisters towards the mating Rancors. Green gas exploded outward seconds later. 

“Prepare the grav sled.” That same man commanded his compatriots. 

Kaine had a bad feeling about this. 

As the team approached the large beasts, a pair of the hunters were grabbed, and eaten as snacks. 

“No good, they must have become resistant to the toxin due to the wasteland!” The initial man on the speeder exclaimed, and just as he was about to run away, one of the Rancor's tossed a pile of scrap metal at him, killing him on the spot. 

‘You can't see me, can't see me, can't see me!’ Kaine repeatedly thought to himself as he stood absolutely still. 

Now Kaine was pretty confident in his skills, but even Starkiller had trouble killing a Rancor back in the day. With his current skills, he'd rather not fight them head on. Yes, all he had to do was stand still, let them eat a few snacks, and whilst they were occupied, he could slip away. 

One of the Rancor's-the bull-began to sniff the air, and took one ponderous step in Kaine's direction. He left behind a massive footprint, and each step made the ground shake. Kaine could see where this was going, and wasn't going to sit still to be squished or suddenly grabbed at. Pointing his finger, he used [Inflict Pain] at the Rancor's tail, simulating the sensation of being bit. Of course, he had considered a searing migraine, but that would likely see the beast go on a destructive rampage. 

“Ragh.” The bull spun around in a fury, looking for the creature that dared take a bite into his flank. 

Mentally patting himself on the back due to his quick thinking, Kaine quickly began to move away. His crimson lightsaber cut a path through the mud as he was forced to slay more of those mud dwelling, landmine-like creatures. Just as he made it around the bend to a place outside of the bull's vision, and sighed in relief, its mate burst through a pile of scrap, and lunged at him. 

Seeing a clawed hand the size of an ice cream van reaching down at him, Kaine did what any reasonable man with a lightsaber would do, and slid across the mud, underneath her grasp. At the same time, he held waved the blade upward, slicing into her forearm, making the Rancor bellow in pained anger. She went to stomp on him like how a child might squish an insect. Kaine was forced to roll back and forth several times, as his slide had put him in an awkward position. 

Heart racing, sweat pouring down his spine, and covered in filth from head to toe, he finally found an opportunity to roll between her legs, and with quick bladework, severed both of her tendons. However, by doing so, the large creature began to fall backwards right on top of him! Sensing his pending demise, Kaine dove headfirst into a gap in the scrap mountain in front of him, barely squeezing into a narrow passage. 

“Argh!” The bull exclaimed, and began to tear away at the pile of scrap, enraged at what had been done to his mate. 

Kaine didn't have to wait long until the rusted remains of trash were pulled away, and he once more came face to face with the beast. This time, he worked [Inflict Pain] on its eyes, passing on an intense stinging sensation. When next it swiped at him, its timing and accuracy were wildly off, giving him a chance to maneuver. Jumping forward, Kaine landed on the bull's elbow, then bounced forward once again just as the other hand slammed down to swat him off. 

Flipping midair, he landed on the Rancor's skull, and in one slick motion, plunged his crimson blade downward. The beast weakly struggled, reaching upward with slowed hands to knock him off. 

Kaine redoubled his efforts, and cut a circular hole, just like Anakin & Obi-Wan had done a hundred times when cutting through the durasteel decking of a ship to escape. Then, popping this bit of skull off with [Telekinesis], he began to wildly hack at its brain matter. An awful stench rose into the air as the bull's brains were cauterized, however, Kaine's actions had paid off. Swaying on his feet, the monster took one step, then collapsed face first. 

Jumping onto the scrap mountain, Kaine was utterly spent. His spamming of abilities had left him with little energy, and although the fight had been resolved in a handful of minutes, he felt like a pro-fighter or athlete who gassed himself in the first quarter. Locking eyes with the female Rancor, he very well knew how vengeful and clan-like these aliens could be…however, at the end of the day, they were still beasts! 

Beating his chestplate like Tarzan, he used what little energy he had left, and amplified his voice, letting out a wordless, animalistic roar of triumph as he stood upon the corpse of his defeated foe. The Darkside applauded his efforts, and sang alongside his emotionally charged roar. 

In response, the female weakly growled back, and then reluctantly began to stumble away in fear. 

Kaine watched her go, standing ramrod straight the entire time, acting as if he were ready to go at any moment. As soon as he sensed that she was truly gone, he slumped down, and began to take deep breaths. Retrieving some water from his inventory, he ripped his mask off his face, and chugged that bitch like he was a man dying of thirst. His black hair was caked in sweat, clinging to his skin, and his body was sore all over due to the physical exertion. However, unbeknownst to Kaine, some part of his Pureblood biology was at work, and was releasing an untold number of chemicals similar in function to dopamine. 

After every fight, every victory, his own body rewarded him with the ultimate high. For a Sith, there was no finer drug than a good battle. The higher the stakes, the greater the reward. At the moment, Kaine felt like he was on cloud nine. Slaying all those weakling mid critters hadn't done a thing. But the second his life felt like it was in danger, he had locked in. This triumph over such a powerful beast affected him in ways few Humans could understand. 

After about half an hour of recuperating, he collected several bones, patches of skin, and gallons of blood into his inventory. All of these items would be great for holding rituals, and he might even be able to slightly upgrade his focus-the bone amulet-as the Rancor that he personally slew was made up of prime materials. 

Once this brief interlude was over, Kaine continued his journey until he was presented with a ten mile tall climb up a vertical mountain. One with copious amounts of tunnels filled with flying creatures, and cave monsters. 

‘Fuck this shit!’ 

Instead of climbing that death trap, he captured one of the flying reptiles that called this place home, and after tying it down with some rope, drew the [Chain] brand from [Blood Etching] onto the beast, and imposed his will upon it, transforming it into his servant. 

Hitching a ride, he bypassed the climb, and found an ancient power station overgrown with vines, and covered in a mountain of guano. 

Of course, what he didn't expect to find here was a tribe of Savrips! Blue, grey, green, brown, these scaled bipedal lizardmen stood at a staggering 13ft tall, and wore primitive fur clothing or scraps taken from the wastes. 

His [Sense] was detecting thousands of them. 

‘Seriously Durge, fuck you.’ 

For the first time since he had slain that Jedi, Qui-Gon showed himself. 

“Perhaps you could try communicating with them.” Qui-Gon said, stroking his beard. 

Kaine was going to reply with a hot retort, but then he recalled that Qui-Gon had apparently stopped a Savrip meat farming operation once upon a time. These things were sentient life forms, sort of…meaning they were ripe for LP exploitation! 

“And what wisdom does the venerable Jedi Master have to share this time?” Kaine asked, crossing his arms, and raising an eyebrow. 

“Can you sing?” Qui-Gon replied, cool as ever. 

Kaine glanced at the apparition out of the corner of his eye, as if to ask: are you serious.

Qui-Gon snorted. Did I stutter? 

Rolling his eyes, Kaine uncrossed his arms, and gave an exasperated sigh. 

“Alright old man, what crazy scheme do you have in mind this time?” 

~~~~~~

AN: Fun fact, the Savrip was a playable character in that chess game-Dejarik-in Episode IV between Chewbacca & C3-PO.