Lightside Sith 019

Utterly exhausted, Kaine trudged back into Worlport as the sun began to peak over the horizon. The only small blessing from this whole ordeal-besides the Rancor bones, and gaining Qui-Gon's trust-was that he could quick change his outfit from his inventory. 

That Sith Warrior suit was absolutely splattered with gore, mud, and grime. Yet another thing prospective adventurers never considered! 

Marching his tired ass to the city gate, he took a hovercab to Jabba's mansion, and once more appreciated what money could buy. This cartel villa overlooking the waves was quite the looker. Upon his approach, the guards on duty didn't stop him, and their fear, respect, or wariness was fresh in the Force. Besides these guys who were forced to be awake, literally everyone else who hadn't left last night were passed out on the floor. An orange Rodian had his hands groping a pair of Twi'lek tits whilst he was snuggling with a bottle. A white haired Sayormi-basically a space Dark Elf-had his pants stolen, and was drunkenly sleeping with his face planted on the floor. Various other mercs, bounty hunters, and lowlives basically had passed out from partying too much. Very few of the merchants or politicians who were here last night were now on the ground. 

Perhaps most surprisingly, was that Durge was still sitting in the exact same spot! The wormman was quite patient! Of course he wasn't really part worm, but with no heart, lungs or other typical biological components, he wasn't  far off! 

Kaine had expected to give the Gen'Dai a text or call for a meetup, but no, the bastard was just sitting there…menacingly! 

“Your new partner seems to appreciate patience. Perhaps there is something you could learn from him yet.” Qui-Gon advised. 

Kaine ignored the damned ghost, petulantly tossed the data engram onto the table, then crossed his arms, and stared the big man in the eye. 

“Ten more minutes and you'd be late.” Durge idly remarked, inspecting the item. 

“Honor your bargain." Kaine all but growled, too tired for this nonsense. 

The return trip had been just as violent as his entry into the Scraplands. Cutting his way through an endless horde of predators, his entire body was sore, and all he wanted to do right now was take a shower, then collapse in bed. 

Durge played with the engram in his hands, and Kaine sensed amusement from the wormman. 

“Don't even think about declining for some cheap laugh.” Kaine said in a low voice. 

Although he was worn out, he still flexed [Telekenesis], and made the silverware, table, and even the alien's armor vibrate. Although he really didn't want to fight right now, there wasn't anything wrong with baring his fangs. 

“What an interesting youngling.” Durge said in a thoughtful tone, pocketing the engram. 

Kaine didn't sense any insult in those words, Durge genuinely thought this way. As an ancient ass old man…he'd let that slide. 

“Very well, a deal is a deal.” Durge rose, scraping his chair backward. 

Standing at his full height, the 13ft tall, bulky Wompa humper cut a dangerous pose. Holding one ham sized, gauntleted hand open, the alien was still full of amusement. 

Kaine concentrated, and coated his hand in a thin film of [Telekinesis] repelling anything that got within a centimeter of his skin. Then, reaching forward, he shook hands with the behemoth. His normal, Human-sized hand was practically swallowed whole. Not even some freak of nature like Michael Jordan could match hand sizes with this monster. As expected, the big man came down with crushing power, nearly popping the small area of resistance several times. 

Leaning into the handshake, Kaine used [Telekinesis] to apply a little pressure of his own. The surprise in Durge's aura was like an elixir, waking Kaine up from the night's bantha shit. 

“Never fuck me over, Durge. You can leave at anytime, no questions asked, but if you ever try to fuck me over…and that includes leaving in the middle of a life or death fight, if you ever fuck me over, I can't say what will happen.” Kaine said with a smile, his golden eyes didn't blink as he stared directly up at him. 

Durge suddenly bulked up, becoming 1.5x bigger than his current size, his armor expanded, unable to contain his current form. Purple-pink tendrils wriggled from side to side, yet Kaine never looked away for an instant. If the bastard made a move, he'd spawn his lightsaber into his handshaking hand, and cut the Gen'Dai in half. Even if that wasn't enough to slay the alien, it would be a start. 

“You've got a big pair of Palpatines, Renstar. I'd hate to be working for a coward.” Durge calmly replied. Returning back to his compressed form, he released his grip, took a step back, then nodded. 

+5LP subtly wafted upwards as Kaine once more proved his dominance over a lesser being, and allowed them the grace of a continued existence. 

Kaine was about to say something witty, charismatic, and inspiring to fully rope the big guy onto Team Renstar-at least he imagined it would be something like that-but then he stuttered as he realized what Durge had just said. “Wait, hold up. Since when did saying the Supreme Chancellor's last name like that become a euphemism for balls?!” 

“Ever since he ‘Jedi [Mind Tricked]’ his way to the top seat by backstabbing Chancellor Valorum, his biggest supporter. It takes a big pair of Palpatines to maneuver your way through that viper pit called the Galactic Senate, then emerge on top.” Durge explained as if he were talking to some idiot kid who was so old, yet didn't understand basic math. 

“Whatever.” Kaine huffed. “Prepare your ship, I'll send you some coordinates soon. We'll be departing in the near future.” He rubbed his tired eyes, then turned around to depart. 

What he needed to do right now was get back to his space-bnb, message the damned old man about the mission success, and the crash. Hopefully Dooku would assign him a mission so he wouldn't waste time, and could sleep in hyperspace. 

As he left the manor, he noticed something quite conspicuous. 

“I think you have an admirer. Ever since he failed to crush your hand, he's been subtly clenching his fist, have you noticed?” Qui-Gon’s calm voice sent a shiver down Kaine's spine, and he glanced over his shoulder to see that the big guy was standing just a step behind him, as if he were the perfect, consummate subordinate. 

Zeroing in on the gauntleted fist, Kaine rolled his eyes. Qui-Gon’s always out here gaslighting me, there's no- 

Seeing the wormman squeeze his fist, Kaine gave him a faint smile. “Well, thank you for escorting me this far, my good man, but this is where we part wa-”

“I already sold my ship.” Durge said, his intentions could not be any clearer. 

Kaine's golden eyes widened at the implication, then a smug smirk slowly spread from ear to ear. 

“So what you're saying is, you had faith in me the entire time.” He said in a triumphant, condescending tone. 

‘As expected, game recognizes game.’ 

“...if you had not arrived by dawn, I am aware of your ship's hangar.” Durge emotionlessly stated. 

“...” Kaine's smirk froze on his face as he realized the armored man was just going to steal the Odachi if he arrived late. 

“I think I'm going to like this one. You two suit one another.” Qui-Gon said from the side, stroking his beard. 

Turning away from Durge, Kaine's eyebrows began to twitch uncontrollably, and he squinted his eyes, barely pulling himself together. 

“Let's go.” Kaine eventually bit out, and once more hailed a hovercab. 

Arriving at the beautiful beachside house, he tossed out a beach chair, ordered some breakfast be delivered, and plopped his ass down to enjoy the sunrise. A small handful of people walked the beach, and that Wookiee family from before were leaving behind large footprints. Their furry kid looked adorable as she jumped around. 

Sighing in contentment, he drank some vanilla-white colored juice taken from the fridge, practically slumping in his seat. 

Durge, meanwhile, occupied a seat under an umbrella, seemingly hiding from the sun. 

“Do the Gen'Dai dislike sunlight?” Kaine asked, attempting to better understand this new subordinate of his. 

“We were a subterranean people before the Sith exterminated our homeworld, forcing us to become nomads.” Durge casually dropped a bomb in their conversation. 

Kaine practically choked on his drink at this revelation, nearly spilling it onto his lap. He only caught it thanks to his reflexes, and a save from [Precognition]. 

‘Jesus Christ bro, you don't drop a stunner on someone like that after you've agreed to enter a war with him!’ 

“Hahaha.” Durge chuckled at him, not bothering to move. “Actually, my people, generically speaking, are great proponents of peace. The most violent of us give the rest of the species a bad reputation. Typically they become violent due to age related psychosis.” The bulky alien explained whilst playing with one of those tiny umbrellas people might put into a glass of alcohol. 

“As I understand it, Gen'Dai can live upward of 7,000 years, and yet…” Kaine said in a meaningful tone, ending his sentence trailingly. 

The big guy was only around 2,000 years old. He shouldn't suffer from this psychosis. 

“Do not act so surprised, Sith. Just like how you spared those debtors, there are outliers in every race. Me? I just like killing.” Durge bluntly stated, not a hint of embarrassment or doubt present in his voice. 

“I fear you two might have more in common than I had first suspected.” Qui-Gon sighed, this time in disappointment. 

A sparkle lit up in Kaine's golden eyes. For the first time, he might have possibly, possibly discovered a method for ribbing that damned older Jedi! 

“Then as two outliers amongst our people, I think we'll work together swimmingly. Maybe you might even help me kill a few Sith or two along the way.” Kaine smiled, taking a sip from his drink. 

“You Sith, always so treacherous. As much as things change, that will always stay the same.” Durge muttered. 

“It's a vicious cycle, being a Sith. Any powerful man wants capable servants. That way he can focus on his own projects, whilst his subordinate handles the annoying miscellaneous tasks. But when the subordinate becomes so good, he can do the boss's job-perhaps even better than the boss himself-well, it's only natural for him to want a promotion.” Kaine slowly explained, as if what he said wasn't so insane. 

“Unfortunately, you're too weak.” Durge casually replied, and looked out to the ocean without a care in the world. 

Tanking that critical damage, Kaine didn't offer any rebuttal. What could he say? Any further words would seem like that of a petulant child screaming he didn't get his cookie. Besides, the bounty hunter was right, Kaine still had a long way to go. Staring out at the waves, his breakfast finally arrived, and he dug in with gusto. 

After eating, he mentally prepared himself, then gave Dooku a call. 

When he saw that the elderly statesman was dressed in his stylish pajamas, Kaine worried he'd be speaking with a cranky Sith Lord. However, the old man took one glance at Durge, and nodded. 

“Well done, Apprentice. Return to Serenno, it is time you became acquainted with your newest sister.”