Dave Wong
4th July 2006, 03:25 PM
Yep, another revision :D
Disclaimer: The Force is NOT my ally. I am NOT a
Jedi.....
A Star Wars-Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy/Ranma 1/2
Crossover
Warning: If you prefer to read about a canon-like
Akane, then I suggest, by all means, that you might
not want to read this chapter.
The Jedi of Chaos
C&C from Elsa Bibat implemented
Chapter 2 (version 1.01)
Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master and head of the Jedi
Academy was interrupted in the middle of his
meditation.
'Luke, we have an urgent situation.' It was a
telepathic summons from Kyle Katarn, a self-taught
Jedi who was now temporarily serving as an instructor
for the Academy.
Returning to the real world, Luke uncrossed his legs
and stood up. He took a couple of steps towards the
entrance of the meditation chamber but suddenly
halted. His eyes narrowed and he sent out his Force
senses to search the entire floor he was on.
'That's odd, I could have sworn that I felt the barest
flickers of a Dark Side presence,' he thought, probing
harder and thoroughly around the general area where
he'd sensed it.
However, after nearly five minutes of concentrated
searching, Luke had found nothing. It still troubled
him but he soon reasoned it to be the remaining
presence of Gantoris, one of his students who had
fallen to the Dark Side and had paid for his folly
with his life.
Well, he'd look into it later; right now, the Force
impressions he was getting from Kyle took first
priority.
The door swished closed behind him as Luke walked out
into the hallway.
/**************/
Barely twenty feet from the meditation chamber, Allura
Takthan of the Disciples of Ragnos, slowly let out a
sigh of relief as Skywalker's probing finally stopped.
It had been close; she had barely escaped his scrutiny
by the tiniest of margins.
Thanks to Mistress Tavion's teaching, the red skinned
Twi-lek had learned how to dampen her Force aura,
which had certainly come in handy during her
infiltration of this Jedi Academy.
Thanks to Brakiss, an Imperial plant that had posed as
a potential student for Skywalker, the Disciples of
Ragnos had valuable intel on the structure and layout
of the Academy. It was this information Allura was
now using as a guide in this phase of her mission.
If someone had taken the luxury of asking her, Allura
would have said this was a waste of her time. She
would've preferred to eliminate the new arrivals but
Mistress Tavion's selection of her for this job had
not been up for debate. The founder and leader of the
Disciples of Ragnos had told her that since she was
considerably more proficient at stealth techniques
than her human rival was, her chances of success were
that much higher.
How true that was. Allura allowed a self-satisfied
smile grace her lips.
In the five years since they first met, Crimson had
always been singleminded when it came to training in
the Force. The shorter human female had, in the
course of her training, almost solely focused on the
combative aspects including lightsaber training along
with all of the offensive techniques powered by the
Dark Side.
Allura, on the other hand, had chosen to be more
versatile in her own training. Like her rival, she
had also chosen to focus more than a little on
lightsaber training; in that respect, she was quite
skilled, though not Crimson's equal, at least not
yet. Aside from that, she had learned only a few
offensive techniques, as well as a decent number of
others that focused on manipulating other people with
the Force.
Also, her ability to channel the Force through her
body to temporarily boost her physical talents was on
a much higher level than Crimson's own. That was what
allowed her to keep up with, and even sometimes
defeat, her rival whenever they had a 'practice
match.'
Aside from mastering the basic instruction, Crimson
had very limited control over her Force aura. Had she
been chosen for this mission instead, it was a sure
bet that her blazing presence in the Force would've
given her away almost immediately.
Thus, the reason why it had fallen to Allura to do the
job.
During their briefing, upon hearing Allura's part in
the mission, Crimon had nearly laughed her fool head
off and had commented that "only such a weak, sneaky
girl would be given such a pathetically easy task."
For that, her head had indeed very nearly come off as
an insulted Allura had swung at her using a
decapitation technique. It was only Crimson's
reflexes which had allowed her to keep her head on,
and a impromptu lightsaber duel had broken out right
there in the meeting room.
It had been cut short courtesy of Tavion. Although
she usually enjoyed and even generally encouraged such
hostile displays of murderous rivalry, Tavion had made
it well known in the beginning that nothing trivial
such as heated rivalry would interfere with a mission.
And since both of her students had broken that rule,
she instantly set into motion their punishment.
One powerful lightning assault later, both of her
disciples had been instantly subdued.
There had been little to be gained with further
dispute, and so Allura had finally accepted that,
barring her Mistress, she was the only one suitable
for the job.
Which was why she was here right now.
The suppression of her Force aura inevitably condemned
her mission to proceed at a very slow pace. Disliking
every second of it, Allura had to sneak into the Jedi
Academy the old-fashioned way; no mind-tricks, no
Force enhanced speed or jumps, nothing that would
require use of the Force.
She had to rely on hiding, crawling, and generally
trying her best not to be seen or heard.
One thing that made it a whole lot easier for her was
the fact that Skywalker was foolish enough not to post
watch, or even have more than the basic security
system, one that hadn't been upgraded ever since
Brakiss' stay a few years ago.
She shook her head in scornful disbelief. As far as
the Twi'lek was concerned, this was part of the reason
why the Jedi were so easily deceived by Emperor
Palpatine during the death of the Old Republic.
Their teachings against the use of guile, anger,
hatred, everything of the Dark Side was a very
exploitable weak spot in their training.
Shaking her head to clear it and once again focusing
on the job at hand, Allura made her way to the
staircase. According to Brakiss's information,
Skywalker's chamber was on the third floor.
Good thing that she had managed to steal this Jedi
robe from an instructor's room; it certainly made for
a convenient disguise. She had left her own
distinctive black robes with Mistress Tavion's group
back at the Massassi Temple.
She'd better get a move on before someone noticed that
she was an unfamiliar face. There was some data that
she had to copy, after all.
/**************/
Somewhere in the vast forest of Yavin, Tavion's other
disciple and Allura's hated rival was doing what she
loved best.
Hunting down and disposing of two men.
Crimson reached out with the Force and, with some
difficulty, managed to locate the nearest of her prey.
There were two of them and were relatively close;
about a mile away to the south. It was obvious to her
that they had been selected among the survivors to get
help; clearly their communications was damaged and
could not be repaired.
Of her male prey, from what little she could get from
'reading' their Force aura's, it seemed that they
would be hardly any threat to her, much less to her
and her two subordinates. She could only base that
assumption on the size of their Force aura's. Though
she hated to admit it to herself, that Twi-lek bitch's
senses were far more acute and accurate than hers.
One of the two male pigs was considerably strong in
the Force, though the uncontrolled way his aura was
leaking meant that he was untrained. The other
possessed significantly less potential than his
companion; to her, he was barely a shadow in the
Force. In fact, it was so small that Crimson wondered
why the fool even chose to train to be a Jedi.
Was Skywalker that foolish and desperate to rebuild
the Jedi Order that he would accept anyone, no matter
how little their potential?
No, Crimson decided. Mistress Tavion had told them
many times to not underestimate Luke Skywalker; he was
a force to be reckoned with. If the reports about him
were to be believed, he had singlehandedly destroyed
Darth Vader AND the Emperor in one stroke.
Skywalker had to have a reason why he'd taken on a
student with so little Force potential; the Disciples
just didn't know it yet.
Still in her black cloak, Crimson continued leading
her two subordinates, Narissa and Talna, on a path
that would carry them towards an intercept point with
their two future victims.
While she'd informed Mistress Tavion that she was more
than capable of eliminating a handful of untrained
Jedi-wannabes, Tavion had crisply informed her that it
was more for her subordinates benefit than for hers.
Her subordinates were both human also, skilled and
well motivated, but their training wasn't finished yet
and they needed more field experience.
Although they were both taller and older than her,
Narissa being the oldest and Talna the tallest, such
things didn't mean a thing in the ranks of the
Disciples of Ragnos. The only thing that mattered was
the Force, or rather the Dark Side of it, and how you
used it.
When the two of them were first assigned to her,
Crimson had quickly established herself as the Alpha
Female by simply giving them both a thorough beatdown
with her superior Dark Side mastery when they had
challenged her.
Ever since she'd first joined Mistress Tavion's group,
Crimson had made it well known that she completely
loathed and distrusted men, not tolerating them in the
slightest. As a matter of fact, the first day she
joined the Disciples of Ragnos, she had nearly killed
a man who had tried to come on to her.
She became a figure to be feared, someone you would
not want to cross paths with, even accidentally.
Tavion allowed her behavior because it helped instill
order and tighter control over the underlings.
With an attitude like that, it wasn't long before she
was picking fights on a daily basis with any male
member who glanced at her. More often than not, it
would end with them being savagely beaten. She soon
established a reputation for herself as a genuine
man-hater, who would go to any lengths to right the
wrong done to her in the past by the one of THEM.
By teaching them such lessons, she would force them to
think twice before even attempting to abuse any women
in their future.
She would not let any of her own be subjected to the
torture that she had been through as a child and a
teenager. That was why when Tavion had approached her
with the offer to join the Disciples of Ragnos, she'd
snapped it up immediately once she heard how much
stronger she could become.
To her mind, that meant she would not have to fear
about being abused by any man ever again.
Due to her stance, none of the male Disciples were in
any hurry to sign up as her apprentice, having long
learned to give her a very wide berth.
Although Crimson was of the opinion that the Disciples
of Ragnos should only be a sisterhood, she managed,
however barely, to restrain herself from constantly
trying to convince Tavion to accept her idea.
As powerful as Crimson become, she still respected
Tavion as her Mistress and superior. She was a woman
after all.
Thus the reason why Narissa and Talna had been
assigned to her. There were others who'd been with
the Disciples of Ragnos longer and were more
experienced, but they were unfortunately men. The
other women either were already assigned to their
masters/mistresses or had other duties to fulfill.
Since Crimson had threatened to kill any man who dared
come close to her, the only way to rectify this was to
give her underlings of similar gender.
Tavion, and only Tavion, was allowed to call her by
her forgotten name.
Crimson snorted inwardly; she couldn't dream of how
she could have ever been naive, weak willed, and
easily dominated way back then. The only things her
past self and her now had in common was the hatred of
males, though different in intensity and perspective.
Her past self had hated teenaged boys but tolerated
men. Crimson hated any man, teenage to adult, of any
species with equal fervor.
To her, it was as if she lived two separate, different
lives with no period of transition in between.
All in all, having subordinates wasn't such a bad
arrangement. In fact, it could be downright
pleasurable. It took some time and effort, but
Narissa was slowly becoming to enjoy being involved in
certain activities of Crimson's, which made for
more than a few nights of indulgence.
Crimson allowed a faint lecherous grin to cross her
face at what happened some nights ago, but managed to
keep her mind on the mission. Yavin's forest wasn't
exactly safe, having its fair share of predatory
beasts, but they weren't of any considerable threat if
the three of them kept on their guard.
The young Disciple of Ragnos was looking forward to
the three following things; the rush and thrill of
combat, the destruction of men, and also the whittling
down the numbers of her enemies.
She didn't personally know who her prey was but she
didn't care. They were men, and at some point, had
probably hurt a female in the past, like the way she'd
been hurt. Even if they hadn't hurt a woman yet, it
was inevitable that they would do so in the not too
distant future.
It was their nature; they were men, after all, and it
was to be expected of them.
Crimson was their punishment made flesh.
Of course, she'd let Talna and Narissa into some of
the fun as well, but there was always a possibility
that she would lose herself in her lust for battle and
kill them all.
Well, all of the males, that is; if there were any
women, she'd let Talna and Narissa take care of them
in order to see exactly what her subordinates were
made of. Crimson disliked taking the lives of any
female, however misguided though they be.
They were getting closer, and as the distance
decreased, her eagerness grew.
"Soon, very soon," she chanted out loud, unconsciously
rubbing her thumb against the hard, cool surface of
her lightsaber.
Behind her, Talna and Narissa traded looks of mutual
apprehension. Talna had been with the Disciples a
couple of months longer than Narissa had, but this was
their first time together to be on what they
considered a real mission.
They had heard tons of rumours about the times when
Crimson had gotten too carried away, and well, from
all accounts it hadn't been a pretty sight.
The male members of the Disciples of Ragnos were dead
certain that Crimson's sanity was slowly peeling away
and went to great lengths to avoid her. They sure as
hell didn't want to be near when she finally went off.
Her two subordinates began to consider themselves very
unlucky; after all, they were pretty much stuck with
her, like it or not. Despite their doubts, they had
to follow her wherever she went.
Yet, as they did so, they couldn't help but have a
very bad feeling about this mission.
/**************/
With a swing of the lightsaber, the tree fell down
across the looming ravine, creating an instant bridge.
Deactivating the energy blade, Ranma nodded in
satisfaction. Waiting for the tree to stabilize, he
stepped up on the trunk and casually strolled over to
the other side, not giving the raging torrent below a
second look. Once he reached the other side, he
motioned for Rosh to walk across.
Rosh shrugged in reluctanct compliance. Ever since
their little 'discussion' fifteen minutes ago, he had
treaded the waters with a mixture of fear, hatred and
respect. Though it had been difficult at first, he'd
kept silent and avoided any sort of conversation with
Korr.
After he saw how deadly a shot Korr was, Rosh was
convinced that maybe he shouldn't try and push his
luck; one could never know if Korr wouldn't shoot him
on the spot next time.
Besides, Rosh was worried for the wounded back at the
shuttlecraft. He knew that if he wasted more time by
stirring up Korr's nest of hornets, their chances of
living to see another day would be severely decreased.
In any case, he was still unarmed and, whether he
liked it or not, was forced to rely on Ranma for
protection, no matter how much it wounded his pride.
However, dwelling on his wounded pride was quickly
beginning to be replaced by jealousy.
To date, they'd already encountered three more of
those reptiles, and Ranma had easily nailed them all
with headshots each and every time. The ponytailed
man made it look so effortless that Rosh wasn't sure
if he was showing off or not.
One of those shots had been made while the reptile had
leaped down towards them from a branch thirty-odd feet
above the ground.
Rosh had only caught the descending blur a second
before he was roughly shoved aside and, one quick
laser blast later, the beast's corpse had crashed in
the spot where he'd been.
Since then, Rosh was trying hard to ignore how much he
envied the skills Ranma had displayed. He found
himself failing as he continuously replayed what had
happened. And he also found himself wondering about
Korr's personality.
This led to him wondering what kind of life the other
man had previously led, what kind of training he'd
undergone to become what he was now.
As he considered Korr's seemingly impossible accuracy
with the blaster along with his attitude, a very
unpleasant possibility presented itself to him.
Was he trained as an assassin?
Rosh quickly began sweating and grew very nervous with
that idea. He reflexively looked at Korr's profile
and began considering it with what he knew of the
other man. So far, Korr had displayed fewer emotions
than a computer and maintained an ice-cold
personality.
On the other hand, assassins weren't known for being
humanitarian; Korr had already shown, however briefly,
that he'd been concerned about the injured people back
at the shuttlecraft. Then again, he could be faking
it as some sort of camouflage or something like that.
Damn! Rosh's fear soon developed into confusion. He
didn't know what to think anymore; his theories,
observations, and imagination began chasing each other
in circles.
He began to feel an urge to scream out loud to the sky
and rip his hair out. Such was the magnitude of the
influence Korr had on him. Damn it all!
Unfortunately, he soon discovered that it was a very
bad idea to ignore where one was walking. His right
foot, while stepping forward, abruptly found itself
bumping into the slightly charred end of the fallen
tree. And since the height between the ground and the
tree were different.....
"What th---!"
Splat.
"Owwwwww...."
All things considered, Rosh should've been grateful.
Although he did almost knock himself senseless (and
rather painfully) on the rough, unyielding wood, it
was the tree that kept him from falling to certain
death into the ravine.
Of course as usual, Ranma was completely blunt in his
response. There was no 'Glare of Death' this time,
though there was the slightest traces of what could've
been exasparation in his eyes.
"Penin, you klutz. What's the matter with you? Quit
screwing around; we don't have time to waste. Get up
or I'll leave you behind."
Having said his piece, Ranma then proceeded to start
climbing a nearby tree, wanting to check their
progress towards the Massassi temple and see if they
were still on track.
"Damnit! I'm in pain here, you idiot! You could at
least help me up, you know!?" Unfortunately, either
Ranma was ignoring him or he was already too high up
to have heard.
Still lying facedown on the tree bridge, Rosh had
missed Ranma climbing up into the three. Groaning in
self pity, he lamented that this was not one of his
better days. As he slowly got up, Rosh reached up to
feel his face and cursed loudly.
A large bruise was already forming on the right side
and he knew that he would look like half of something
the cat dragged in.
Crap, this was Ran--, no wait, it was his own fault
for not paying attention where he was going. While
Rosh might be stubborn and hard-headed at times, he
was not in the habit of blaming his problems on other
people. At least, not all the time.
Carefully making his way over to the other side, he
looked around for Korr. When he couldn't find him,
Rosh was beginning to grow angry at being left behind.
Regardless of the abuse heaped upon him by Korr, he
didn't really believe the cold-blooded sociopath would
have done that to him.
"Emperor's damnation!" he cursed, then impulsively
dashed off into the jungle. "Korr, you bastard!
Where the hell are you!?"
Within seconds, he was lost from sight.
Eight minutes later, Ranma dropped down from the
branch into a crouched stance. He looked around, a
small frown tugging at the corners of his mouth when
he noticed his companion's disappearance.
"How.......inconvenient," he stated. "I should have
had the Rodian come with me instead of him."
/**************/
At his vigil near the shuttlecraft's open side hatch,
Dah'kk was fervently wishing that he'd switched places
with Penin. The Zabrak nurse was nice, but gods above
and below, her nonstop chatter was really getting on
his nerves!
"Y' wanna know sumthin' funny? Ah wuz accident'ly
engaged ta two guys back in med school, and Ah didn't
even know it! They wuld buy me all sorts 'f gifts and
treat me ta all th' best rest'rants; dear o' dear, Ah
wuz in heav'n, don'cha know? Half th' time, I didn't
even hav' ta spend a dime on myself 'n food an'
entertainin' myself. Oh gosh, Ah wish I culd go back
ta thos' days. Hey huney, d'ya think Luke Skywalk'r
will treat us all ta a 'Welcom' New Students' party
bash or sumthin' like it. I sur' wish he does! He
sounds like a very nice man, don'cha think so? An'
anuther thin'......"
The Rodian wasn't the only one who was suffering. The
others who were awake, including the pilot, two of the
Twi-leks, and one of the Kel-dor males were all
unfortunately experiencing the same thing.
They really needed to be rescued, now more than ever.
Dah'kk's right round-shaped, black filled eye was
twitching. At the moment, he was seriously thinking
about shooting himself to end the pain. At the rate
Aserna was carrying on, he didn't know if he could
hold on to his sanity for long.
"Hey y'all, Ah hav an idear! Since this 's sorta like
a campout, let's sing sum songs! Ah'll start! Ah luv
ya, ya luv me; we're a happy family! With a great big
hug..." [1]
The indigenous wildlife near the shuttle were minding
their own business until they were startled by several
loud cries that shouted in agonized unison.
"NOOOOO!!! MAKE IT STOP, OH PLEASE, MAKE IT STOP!"
At that instant in the Jedi Academy, while listening
to Katarn, Luke Skywalker's body noticeably stiffened.
"We lost track of the shuttle soon after it entered
Yavin's atmosphere... Luke, what's wrong?"
The tow-headed Jedi Master had suddenly looked up at
the ceiling, having barely registered Kyle's words.
He said in a distant tone of voice, "I just felt a
minor disturbance in the Force.....as if a handful of
voices suddenly cried out in agony and were being
subjected to some sort of horrible torture nearby. We
have to move quickly, or else we won't have any new
trainees left to teach. Kyle, please go gather the
senior students and get them ready. We leave in
fifteen minutes."
"You got it, Luke."
/**************/
Rosh Penin had lost track of how much time had elapsed
since Korr had disappeared and left him behind. For
that matter, he didn't really care.
Less than a minute after he began searching for him,
Rosh arrived at the conclusion that he didn't need
to waste time looking for Korr. He still had the
beacon, and the injured people at the shuttlecraft
still needed help.
So with all that in mind, he'd switched priorities,
kicking 'Search for Ponytailed Prick' down to the
bottom of the list and bringing up 'Locate Massassi
Temple'.
He'd already climbed up a tree to check his position.
It was with relief he'd discovered that he was only
slightly off track. He'd long since corrected and
periodically rechecked his course.
After a while, he began to rant out loud; not one of
his better ideas, as he would come to regret later.
"Stupid Ranma. It's all his fault I'm in this
godforsaken jungle. Dammit, why the hell did he have
to force me to go with him, that cold-blooded nutcase.
I could've been safely back in the shuttle, waiting
to be rescued!"
Rosh took a moment to reconsider his words.
"I take that back. There's no way in hell that I'd
place myself back in the shuttle just to be tortured
by that air-headed ditzy nurse! Man, now that I think
about it, I should've never applied to the Military
Academy."
He took a moment to take a breather and then continued
on.
"And I could've been home at a barbecue![2] Stupid
Korr, this is all your fault!"
"Instead here I am, trudging through this humid,
vegetation-filled crap, sweating like a rancor in
heat, with hungry, man-eating predators hiding all
around me, just waiting to get a taste of the good old
#6 Penin meat special!"
Rosh shook his head in disgust and threw a fruitless
glare at forest.
He really should have been more careful of what he was
saying.
Rosh didn't know what warned him; some instinct or
maybe the Force. All he knew was that he sensed
something moving towards him from the right. He
turned, looked, and immediately started running for
his life.
He would've spat a short curse but time was a precious
commodity at the moment. Thus, he made sure to hold
the beacon securely against his chest and focused all
his energy into running. Rosh didn't get a clear
look, but what little he'd seen was more than enough.
Anyone with sense would do their utmost best to get
away from a large, dark-red furry feline-like beast
running at them with sharp, gleaming teeth.
As he ran, Rosh mentally added yet another thing to
the list that was Korr's fault.
/**************/
Somewhere behind Rosh, Ranma was quickly tree-hopping
his way towards the Massassi temple, oblivious to the
other man's predicament.
At the same time, elsewhere ahead of Rosh, three
cloaked and hooded figures paused. Sensing that one
of the two were rapidly coming their way, they
arranged for an appropriate welcome.
/**************/
Lines of sweat cascaded down Rosh's face as he
frantically pumped his legs to go faster and faster.
He didn't dare to look behind him to see how close his
pursuer was; he knew how these things worked, he'd
seen it happen on those holovid movies after all.
The second he turned his head, he would trip over an
exposed root or vine and it would be all over for
Alina Penin's oldest boy.
Thus he forced out all thoughts on how much his legs
hurt, how hard it was getting to breathe, EVERYTHING,
and just plain focused on staying more than one step
ahead of it.
Leaves and small branches slapped at his face and
body, the rapid rhythm puffs of air flew from his
mouth, the adrenaline sparking through his body, Rosh
had never felt so alive before. Then again, he had
good reason to.
For the most part, he ran on, partially blind. This
part of the forest was very dark, with only small
patches of light to help him negotiate his way. It
was enough so he was able to avoid being clotheslined
by any low hanging branch.
Whenever he would think that he couldn't go on any
further, the image of being painfully torn limb from
limb spurred him on.
After what seemed to be several minutes of being
chased (though in actuality was only twenty seconds),
Rosh broke clear of the forest out into a large
clearing with a wide river straight ahead. Beyond
that was more forest and beyond that to the right, was
the Massassi temple!
Apparently, by sheer luck, he'd been able to stay on
track. Rosh immediately made a beeline towards it.
The rustling of bushes from behind told him that the
red feline carnivore was after him. Damnit! Why
won't it just give up!
His legs churning for all they were worth, Rosh eyed
the river with dismay. It was obvious that he
couldn't run across it, the drag of the downstream
current would slow him down enough for the feline to
catch him.
No, the only way to get across was to jump across.
The river was pretty wide, but Rosh was positive that
he could make it. He had no other choice, if he
wanted to live.
That was always a good incentive.
The river was coming closer, but he knew without a
doubt that his pursuer was quickly gaining, being on
open ground meant that it didn't have to contend with
maneuvering around trees and other such obstacles.
With the strength of desperation, Rosh gathered up his
flagging energy and focused it into his legs for one
last burst of speed.
Five feet. Four feet. Three feet. Two feet. One
feet. He was now at the riverbank.
"Ohgoshohgoshohgoshohgoshohgoshthishadbetterfriggin work!!!'
With that last thought, Rosh tensed his leg muscles
and jumped for all he was worth. For a single moment,
it was as if time slowed down and he was hanging over
the river, inching forward at a snail's pace. From
his position, he knew he would make it safely to the
other side with inches to spare.
When his left foot finally touched down on the ground,
time resumed its normal passage. However, before he
could even start to be happy about that, the forward
momentum from his leap transferred to his landing.
In other words, he was unable to keep his balance upon
landing and tripped, finding himself for the third
time in one day, face flat on the slightly moist
ground.
For a second, Rosh lied still, confused as to what had
happened. His adrenaline, which had served him so
well in preventing him from becoming catfood, quickly
left his body, leaving him feeling weak as a kitten.
He lifted his head and then suddenly, his eyes widened
as he abruptly remembered what was chasing him. He
quickly rolled over just in time to see the
feline-like predator launch itself over the river,
just like he'd done.
And unless he did something very soon, said
feline-like predator would be landing right on him.
Completely frozen by fear, Rosh did the only thing he
could. Reflexively throwing his arms over his face,
the young man screamed at the top of his lungs.
"MOOOOMMMMIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!" [3]
Two heart-beats passed.
Nothing happened. There was no impact of an oversized
cat on top of him, there was no unbearable pain of his
skin being ripped open by razor edged canines, there
was no spurting of blood from ravaged blood vessels.
He was still alive! But how?
Rosh cautiously opened his eyes and lowered his arms.
He looked around uneasily and immediately shouted out
in surprise.
The red cat was still there over him, but something
had frozen it in mid-air. For a moment, Rosh thought
he was dreaming or hallucinating, but a female voice
soon dispelled that theory.
"I'm sorry to interfere with your business, my feline
sister, but I'll take over from here. Talna!"
/**************/
From the treelines where they'd been watching the
amusing chase, Crimson had been tempted to let the
predator catch the prey.
But at the last moment, her desire to have a little
fun changed her mind; with that decided, she motioned
to Talna, who understood what to do.
The three Disciples casually walked out into the open,
Talna with her hand outstretched, using the Force to
hold the large feline in place.
They stopped at a certain point, Crimson a little
ahead of her two subordinates. In an overly dramatic
tone, she said "I'm sorry to interfere with your
business, my feline sister, but I'll have to take over
from here."
She pointed at the forest on the other side and
ordered, "Talna!"
Her subordinate nodded, her brow wrinking with the
effort, and slowly dropped her live cargo at the
designated area.
The red feline landed on her feet, snarled angrily at
the three women and for one second was about to attack
them. However, her animal instincts, which had kept
her alive all these years on Yavin, warned her against
that move. These three were definitely more dangerous
than she ever could be. Hissing in displeasure, she
wheeled around and vanished within the forest.
Rosh let out a breath of pure relief and he remained
where he was for a few seconds, letting himself
recover from the exhausting run. If he hadn't
prepared himself physically for the New Republic
Military -- he shook his head; he did not want
to go there. It was a good thing that his rescuers
had arrived when they did.
When he felt his legs were sturdy enough to support
him again, Rosh stood up with some difficulty and
faced them. He assumed that they were from the Jedi
Academy; Skywalker must've found out about their
predicament, somehow. After all, he was a Jedi
Master and probably had his ways.
His initial greeting died quickly when he got a good
look at them. There were three of them, undisputedly
female, and what really took Rosh aback was their body
language and their choice of clothing.
His intuition told him in no uncertain terms that the
shortest one in the middle was the leader, and she was
tense and angry at something, or someone. Check that,
not angry, more like ... hostile. Very, very hostile.
The body language of one of the two behind wasn't
nearly as tense or hostile as the leader's was, but
neither was it encouraging. The tallest one seemed to
be neutral, perhaps even a little sympathetic, but
that was probably his imagination.
Also, their clothing was not giving him any assurance
at all either. In his opinion, those black hooded
robes they wore practically screamed out "Danger!" to
his intuition. With every inch of their body covered,
except for the mouth and chin, Rosh decided that it
was quite evident they weren't going for a 'positive'
public image.
In appearances alone, they looked very ominous and
forbidding to him and a sudden chill ran up his spine.
That said, Rosh didn't think that Luke Skywalker would
approve of such attire. He found himself idly
wondering how they could stand being almost completely
covered like that during such a hot day like now.
Rosh was beginning to have a bad feeling about all
this. His throat became suddenly dry, and the relief
he'd felt at being rescued winked out and was being
replaced with apprehension.
Although he knew it would fail, he tried anyway.
"Thanks ladies," he began cautiously. "I would've
been catfood if you three hadn't shown up when you
did. Say, how did you manage to find me all the way
from the Academy?"
His question went unanswered. The one in the middle
who seemed to be in charge stepped forward, her mouth
turning up into an eager and hungry grin. She
unhooked her black and red lightsaber and ignited it.
The resulting *snap-hiss* made Rosh flinch, which she
enjoyed seeing. The bruised half of his face made her
snicker derisively, lowering her opinion of him by
several depths.
It was at this time that every inch of Rosh's body
screamed at him that he was in a lot of trouble. He
wasn't an idiot; from the stories he'd heard of the
fall of the Empire, these were probably Sith, like
what Darth Vader and the Emperor had been.
Taking some steps backward, Rosh pasted a nervous
smile on his face and tried to negotiate.
"Okay, let's have everyone calm down and I'm sure we
can make a deal. C'mon, whadaya say? I'm not even a
trained Jedi yet, meaning I'm no threat to you at
all. So how about letting me go, c'mon, please?"
Unfortunately, his pleading failed to result in the
desired conclusion. Crimson began advancing on him,
matching him step for step, and brought her lightsaber
to ready.
Behind her, Narissa seemed on the verge of saying
something, but decided against it.
"Typical of a man; not having the courage to die with
dignity. I'll be doing Skywalker a favor by helping
him weed out pathetic worms just like you! Die, you
weak excuse for a male!!"
Rosh had a response ready for that.
"Oh, shit."
Crimson dashed forward and she lifted her lightsaber
for a slashing maneuver. All of a sudden, in
mid-step, the Force alerted her to an incoming threat
from across the river.
Stopping in her tracks, she swiveled in the necessary
direction and yelled out "Ambush!" while bringing her
blade up defensively in an appropriate block.
It was a good thing too, because less than half a
heart-beat later, a burst of laser bolts were fired at
them from the trees on the other side of the river.
Reacting quickly himself, Rosh took this opportunity
to dash into the woods, heading straight for the
Massassi Temple. They were distracted, good. Now he
had to reach the Temple before they caught up to him.
At their superior's cry, Narissa and Talna activated
their lightsabers and prepared to defend themselves.
All three ignored Rosh's escape; they could easily
catch up to him after they disposed of this newest
problem.
Unfortunately, things weren't as easy as they'd
assumed.
Crimson easily picked off the laser bolt that blazed
towards her face; as did Narissa. However, the last
member of their group wasn't quite as successful.
Talna had been a split-second too slow to react. She
ALMOST made it as she swung her lightsaber up in a
half-circle to deflect the incoming bolt. Despite her
attempt, the laser bolt shot past the energy blade,
missing by a fourth of an inch, and burnt itself right
between her eyes. [4]
She fell on her back, convulsed for a bit then became
still as she entered death's final embrace.
Crimson's eyes narrowed. Whoever ambushed them, and
she was certain it was only one person, was one hell
of a shot. All of those laser bolts had been aimed at
the exact same spot for all three of them.
And what was more to consider was the speed of which
the laser bolts had been fired.....no hesitation
between each shot. Just zap-zap-zap and that was it.
Knowing instantly that their comrade was dead, Crimson
and Narissa didn't even bother to tend to her. They
absently realized that Rosh had disappeared, but they
didn't worry about that now.
The two of them wisely kept their guard up, not eager
to dash into such an obvious trap, preferring to wait
for their hidden attacker to show themselves.
"Narissa, go catch that coward who ran away," Crimson
ordered. "I'll deal with this one."
"Sure thing Ma'am," her subordinate acknowledged and
began to head towards the forest.
Only to be forced to defend herself when the second
round of laser beams flashed into existence. This
time however, instead of going for the both of them,
they were all directed at her.
"You stupid idiot!" her superior roared at her.
"Have you forgotten!!? NEVER turn your back on an
enemy!"
"S-sorry Ma'am!" Narissa exclaimed, letting the Force
guide her hand and she deflected every beam
successfully.
Though she wasn't skilled enough to redirect them
straight back at their source, she was capable enough
to angle them in a way so they wouldn't burn her foot
off or accidentally fly in Crimson's direction.
The young blonde shivered at the thought of what would
occur should her superior's wrath, already provoked by
her blunder, be incensed further by the latter.
It became obvious that their hidden ambusher was
trying to buy their prey additional time. It was also
clear to Crimson that he or she would keep firing at
Narissa, further stopping her from chasing the man,
which led to said man getting farther and
farther away with each breath.
Of course, that simply wouldn't do at all.
Busily defending herself, Narissa was surprised when
her leader's blade shot out and deflected one, then
two laser bolts.
"Ma'am?" she asked uncertainly.
"Go," Crimson stated, an angry undertone evident as
she stepped in front of her. "I'll cover you."
"Thanks a lot, Ma'am! Be right back in a minute!"
Narissa caroled happily and sped into the forest.
The instant her subordinate vanished into the trees,
the barrage stopped. Crimson smirked; she'd expected
that to happen.
"Come on out and face me, if you have the guts for it,
you ambushing, cowardly piece of filth!"
She'd expected another fruitless barrage of lasers;
she'd expected the ambusher to run away. What she
didn't expect was the person to actually meet her
challenge.
Out of the woods, as if he didn't have a care in the
world, calmly strolled Ranma Korr, weaponless except
for his lightsaber held in his hand.
Stopping a few feet from the riverbank, he regarded
the her with a measured look, as if mentally
calculating her threat potential.
"Ambushing?" he asked in a mildly interested way. "A
curious description, coming from someone who was
definitely involved in a certain uncalled for, sudden
attack on a certain shuttlecraft backaways."
"Pheh," snorted Crimson. "I'll admit that you got
guts to blame that on me. Not that it matters since
I'm wasn't the one who did it."
It was true; it had been Tavion who had blasted the
shuttlecraft's engines with the Scepter of Ragnos.
"And yet, you did nothing to stop it and are in league
with whoever WAS responsible. That makes you," he
pointed at her, "guilty by association."
Her patience finished, Crimson brandished her weapon
and shouted at him, "Enough talking! You ambushed us
and killed one of my own, you bastard! I'm soo going
to enjoy this...."
With that, she brought up her lightsaber to the ready
and began walking towards the river, never taking her
eyes off him.
With an eager gleam of anticipation forming in her
eyes, she found herself growing excited.
The short lived mystery had been solved already; with
the lightsaber as proof, obviously he was a Jedi. How
else could the accuracy of his blaster shots could be
explained? [5]
This would be her first battle with a Jedi; hopefully
he would provide her with a good fight. That Twi-lek
slut was good, but she wasn't yet her equal in pure
lightsaber combat. She was almost there however, and
the 'practice' battles between the two of them weren't
always one-sided.
Crimson entertained the faint hope that this man would
prove to be as good, but she doubted it.
By reflex, Crimson probed him with her Force senses
and became greatly puzzled, though her face didn't
show it. Unless she was mistaken or unless he was
trying to deceive her into underestimating him, this
was the same guy she sensed earlier, the one with
hardly any Force potential.
Just what kind of stupid trick he was trying to pull?
She spat in anger. Just like a man to trick a woman
in order to make her misjudge him, so he could stab
her in the back when she wasn't paying attention.
Trick or not, he was going to die today at her hands!
And like she'd said, there was the matter of
vengeance.
Talna had been a decent subordinate and, barring any
new female initiates, it would be extremely difficult
to replace. At least her death would help Crimson by
focusing her thoughts of revenge. She flipped off the
hood, letting her face catch the afternoon sunlight.
Black hair with blue highlights that reached the
middle of her back was securely tied back in a tight,
double knot. Wrathful brown pupils regarded her enemy
with scorn. A furious scowl marred what was otherwise
an attractive face.
"Whoever you are, you wouldn't believe how big a
mistake you've just made. Your life, as of now, is
forfeit, you stupid, suicidal MAN!! Please, do me a
favor and try to put up at least a little bit of
resistance."
Her face emphasized her promise by twisting into a
decidedly evil and menacing expression which had put
fear into the hearts of many men.
It was completely wasted on Ranma, who didn't
acknowledge it one bit. He shrugged, his posture
giving off vibes of indifference, and ignited his
lightsaber.
The chips of ice that vaguely resembled his eyes met
her burning glare directly, showing not an inch of
fear.
Holding the humming light-green energy blade a few
inches away from his face, Ranma gave Crimson her
answer.
"We'll see."
End Chapter 2
Began May 26, 2006
Finished June 16, 2006
Revised June 22, 2006
Further revised July 02, 2006
Author's Notes:
[Revised version 1.00]
Corrected the minor errors pointed out/discussed by
Sebastian Palm and David Johnston. Thanks guys!
Rewrote some paragraphs and added a one or two new
ones.
[Revised version 1.01]
Tried hard to follow as much of Elsa's advice as
possible. Fewer frequent scene breaks and decreased
the number of ellipses (I never noticed how much I
used them). The pacing, however, is going to stay
pretty much the same. And for the humor, well,
unless I think up some better ideas (and implement
them in a yet another future revision), it'll go the
same way.
Expanded on a few scenes and changed some minor
details to make this chapter connect more smoothly
with the next.
[1] = Yes, I'm evil. (chuckles)
[2] = Borrowed this line from ID4
[3] = If you haven't noticed already, Rosh is the
designated comic-relief...well, until Ranma thaws out
later in the story, though.
[4] = I figured if Jango Fett could catch a fully
trained Jedi Knight (Coleman Trebor) by surprise and
eventually get through his defenses (Attack of the
Clones).....
[5] = Crimson hasn't met Dash Rendar (Shadows of the
Empire) or Wes Janson of Rogue/Wraith Squadron, two of
the best gun-men in the Star Wars universe
Dave Wong
a.k.a. DarkWing
"Let's get dangerous"
Website: www.geocities.com/darksoar/start.html
Dave Wong
a.k.a. DarkWing
"Let's get dangerous"
Website: www.geocities.com/darksoar/start.html
__________________________________________________
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Disclaimer: The Force is NOT my ally. I am NOT a
Jedi.....
A Star Wars-Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy/Ranma 1/2
Crossover
Warning: If you prefer to read about a canon-like
Akane, then I suggest, by all means, that you might
not want to read this chapter.
The Jedi of Chaos
C&C from Elsa Bibat implemented
Chapter 2 (version 1.01)
Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master and head of the Jedi
Academy was interrupted in the middle of his
meditation.
'Luke, we have an urgent situation.' It was a
telepathic summons from Kyle Katarn, a self-taught
Jedi who was now temporarily serving as an instructor
for the Academy.
Returning to the real world, Luke uncrossed his legs
and stood up. He took a couple of steps towards the
entrance of the meditation chamber but suddenly
halted. His eyes narrowed and he sent out his Force
senses to search the entire floor he was on.
'That's odd, I could have sworn that I felt the barest
flickers of a Dark Side presence,' he thought, probing
harder and thoroughly around the general area where
he'd sensed it.
However, after nearly five minutes of concentrated
searching, Luke had found nothing. It still troubled
him but he soon reasoned it to be the remaining
presence of Gantoris, one of his students who had
fallen to the Dark Side and had paid for his folly
with his life.
Well, he'd look into it later; right now, the Force
impressions he was getting from Kyle took first
priority.
The door swished closed behind him as Luke walked out
into the hallway.
/**************/
Barely twenty feet from the meditation chamber, Allura
Takthan of the Disciples of Ragnos, slowly let out a
sigh of relief as Skywalker's probing finally stopped.
It had been close; she had barely escaped his scrutiny
by the tiniest of margins.
Thanks to Mistress Tavion's teaching, the red skinned
Twi-lek had learned how to dampen her Force aura,
which had certainly come in handy during her
infiltration of this Jedi Academy.
Thanks to Brakiss, an Imperial plant that had posed as
a potential student for Skywalker, the Disciples of
Ragnos had valuable intel on the structure and layout
of the Academy. It was this information Allura was
now using as a guide in this phase of her mission.
If someone had taken the luxury of asking her, Allura
would have said this was a waste of her time. She
would've preferred to eliminate the new arrivals but
Mistress Tavion's selection of her for this job had
not been up for debate. The founder and leader of the
Disciples of Ragnos had told her that since she was
considerably more proficient at stealth techniques
than her human rival was, her chances of success were
that much higher.
How true that was. Allura allowed a self-satisfied
smile grace her lips.
In the five years since they first met, Crimson had
always been singleminded when it came to training in
the Force. The shorter human female had, in the
course of her training, almost solely focused on the
combative aspects including lightsaber training along
with all of the offensive techniques powered by the
Dark Side.
Allura, on the other hand, had chosen to be more
versatile in her own training. Like her rival, she
had also chosen to focus more than a little on
lightsaber training; in that respect, she was quite
skilled, though not Crimson's equal, at least not
yet. Aside from that, she had learned only a few
offensive techniques, as well as a decent number of
others that focused on manipulating other people with
the Force.
Also, her ability to channel the Force through her
body to temporarily boost her physical talents was on
a much higher level than Crimson's own. That was what
allowed her to keep up with, and even sometimes
defeat, her rival whenever they had a 'practice
match.'
Aside from mastering the basic instruction, Crimson
had very limited control over her Force aura. Had she
been chosen for this mission instead, it was a sure
bet that her blazing presence in the Force would've
given her away almost immediately.
Thus, the reason why it had fallen to Allura to do the
job.
During their briefing, upon hearing Allura's part in
the mission, Crimon had nearly laughed her fool head
off and had commented that "only such a weak, sneaky
girl would be given such a pathetically easy task."
For that, her head had indeed very nearly come off as
an insulted Allura had swung at her using a
decapitation technique. It was only Crimson's
reflexes which had allowed her to keep her head on,
and a impromptu lightsaber duel had broken out right
there in the meeting room.
It had been cut short courtesy of Tavion. Although
she usually enjoyed and even generally encouraged such
hostile displays of murderous rivalry, Tavion had made
it well known in the beginning that nothing trivial
such as heated rivalry would interfere with a mission.
And since both of her students had broken that rule,
she instantly set into motion their punishment.
One powerful lightning assault later, both of her
disciples had been instantly subdued.
There had been little to be gained with further
dispute, and so Allura had finally accepted that,
barring her Mistress, she was the only one suitable
for the job.
Which was why she was here right now.
The suppression of her Force aura inevitably condemned
her mission to proceed at a very slow pace. Disliking
every second of it, Allura had to sneak into the Jedi
Academy the old-fashioned way; no mind-tricks, no
Force enhanced speed or jumps, nothing that would
require use of the Force.
She had to rely on hiding, crawling, and generally
trying her best not to be seen or heard.
One thing that made it a whole lot easier for her was
the fact that Skywalker was foolish enough not to post
watch, or even have more than the basic security
system, one that hadn't been upgraded ever since
Brakiss' stay a few years ago.
She shook her head in scornful disbelief. As far as
the Twi'lek was concerned, this was part of the reason
why the Jedi were so easily deceived by Emperor
Palpatine during the death of the Old Republic.
Their teachings against the use of guile, anger,
hatred, everything of the Dark Side was a very
exploitable weak spot in their training.
Shaking her head to clear it and once again focusing
on the job at hand, Allura made her way to the
staircase. According to Brakiss's information,
Skywalker's chamber was on the third floor.
Good thing that she had managed to steal this Jedi
robe from an instructor's room; it certainly made for
a convenient disguise. She had left her own
distinctive black robes with Mistress Tavion's group
back at the Massassi Temple.
She'd better get a move on before someone noticed that
she was an unfamiliar face. There was some data that
she had to copy, after all.
/**************/
Somewhere in the vast forest of Yavin, Tavion's other
disciple and Allura's hated rival was doing what she
loved best.
Hunting down and disposing of two men.
Crimson reached out with the Force and, with some
difficulty, managed to locate the nearest of her prey.
There were two of them and were relatively close;
about a mile away to the south. It was obvious to her
that they had been selected among the survivors to get
help; clearly their communications was damaged and
could not be repaired.
Of her male prey, from what little she could get from
'reading' their Force aura's, it seemed that they
would be hardly any threat to her, much less to her
and her two subordinates. She could only base that
assumption on the size of their Force aura's. Though
she hated to admit it to herself, that Twi-lek bitch's
senses were far more acute and accurate than hers.
One of the two male pigs was considerably strong in
the Force, though the uncontrolled way his aura was
leaking meant that he was untrained. The other
possessed significantly less potential than his
companion; to her, he was barely a shadow in the
Force. In fact, it was so small that Crimson wondered
why the fool even chose to train to be a Jedi.
Was Skywalker that foolish and desperate to rebuild
the Jedi Order that he would accept anyone, no matter
how little their potential?
No, Crimson decided. Mistress Tavion had told them
many times to not underestimate Luke Skywalker; he was
a force to be reckoned with. If the reports about him
were to be believed, he had singlehandedly destroyed
Darth Vader AND the Emperor in one stroke.
Skywalker had to have a reason why he'd taken on a
student with so little Force potential; the Disciples
just didn't know it yet.
Still in her black cloak, Crimson continued leading
her two subordinates, Narissa and Talna, on a path
that would carry them towards an intercept point with
their two future victims.
While she'd informed Mistress Tavion that she was more
than capable of eliminating a handful of untrained
Jedi-wannabes, Tavion had crisply informed her that it
was more for her subordinates benefit than for hers.
Her subordinates were both human also, skilled and
well motivated, but their training wasn't finished yet
and they needed more field experience.
Although they were both taller and older than her,
Narissa being the oldest and Talna the tallest, such
things didn't mean a thing in the ranks of the
Disciples of Ragnos. The only thing that mattered was
the Force, or rather the Dark Side of it, and how you
used it.
When the two of them were first assigned to her,
Crimson had quickly established herself as the Alpha
Female by simply giving them both a thorough beatdown
with her superior Dark Side mastery when they had
challenged her.
Ever since she'd first joined Mistress Tavion's group,
Crimson had made it well known that she completely
loathed and distrusted men, not tolerating them in the
slightest. As a matter of fact, the first day she
joined the Disciples of Ragnos, she had nearly killed
a man who had tried to come on to her.
She became a figure to be feared, someone you would
not want to cross paths with, even accidentally.
Tavion allowed her behavior because it helped instill
order and tighter control over the underlings.
With an attitude like that, it wasn't long before she
was picking fights on a daily basis with any male
member who glanced at her. More often than not, it
would end with them being savagely beaten. She soon
established a reputation for herself as a genuine
man-hater, who would go to any lengths to right the
wrong done to her in the past by the one of THEM.
By teaching them such lessons, she would force them to
think twice before even attempting to abuse any women
in their future.
She would not let any of her own be subjected to the
torture that she had been through as a child and a
teenager. That was why when Tavion had approached her
with the offer to join the Disciples of Ragnos, she'd
snapped it up immediately once she heard how much
stronger she could become.
To her mind, that meant she would not have to fear
about being abused by any man ever again.
Due to her stance, none of the male Disciples were in
any hurry to sign up as her apprentice, having long
learned to give her a very wide berth.
Although Crimson was of the opinion that the Disciples
of Ragnos should only be a sisterhood, she managed,
however barely, to restrain herself from constantly
trying to convince Tavion to accept her idea.
As powerful as Crimson become, she still respected
Tavion as her Mistress and superior. She was a woman
after all.
Thus the reason why Narissa and Talna had been
assigned to her. There were others who'd been with
the Disciples of Ragnos longer and were more
experienced, but they were unfortunately men. The
other women either were already assigned to their
masters/mistresses or had other duties to fulfill.
Since Crimson had threatened to kill any man who dared
come close to her, the only way to rectify this was to
give her underlings of similar gender.
Tavion, and only Tavion, was allowed to call her by
her forgotten name.
Crimson snorted inwardly; she couldn't dream of how
she could have ever been naive, weak willed, and
easily dominated way back then. The only things her
past self and her now had in common was the hatred of
males, though different in intensity and perspective.
Her past self had hated teenaged boys but tolerated
men. Crimson hated any man, teenage to adult, of any
species with equal fervor.
To her, it was as if she lived two separate, different
lives with no period of transition in between.
All in all, having subordinates wasn't such a bad
arrangement. In fact, it could be downright
pleasurable. It took some time and effort, but
Narissa was slowly becoming to enjoy being involved in
certain activities of Crimson's, which made for
more than a few nights of indulgence.
Crimson allowed a faint lecherous grin to cross her
face at what happened some nights ago, but managed to
keep her mind on the mission. Yavin's forest wasn't
exactly safe, having its fair share of predatory
beasts, but they weren't of any considerable threat if
the three of them kept on their guard.
The young Disciple of Ragnos was looking forward to
the three following things; the rush and thrill of
combat, the destruction of men, and also the whittling
down the numbers of her enemies.
She didn't personally know who her prey was but she
didn't care. They were men, and at some point, had
probably hurt a female in the past, like the way she'd
been hurt. Even if they hadn't hurt a woman yet, it
was inevitable that they would do so in the not too
distant future.
It was their nature; they were men, after all, and it
was to be expected of them.
Crimson was their punishment made flesh.
Of course, she'd let Talna and Narissa into some of
the fun as well, but there was always a possibility
that she would lose herself in her lust for battle and
kill them all.
Well, all of the males, that is; if there were any
women, she'd let Talna and Narissa take care of them
in order to see exactly what her subordinates were
made of. Crimson disliked taking the lives of any
female, however misguided though they be.
They were getting closer, and as the distance
decreased, her eagerness grew.
"Soon, very soon," she chanted out loud, unconsciously
rubbing her thumb against the hard, cool surface of
her lightsaber.
Behind her, Talna and Narissa traded looks of mutual
apprehension. Talna had been with the Disciples a
couple of months longer than Narissa had, but this was
their first time together to be on what they
considered a real mission.
They had heard tons of rumours about the times when
Crimson had gotten too carried away, and well, from
all accounts it hadn't been a pretty sight.
The male members of the Disciples of Ragnos were dead
certain that Crimson's sanity was slowly peeling away
and went to great lengths to avoid her. They sure as
hell didn't want to be near when she finally went off.
Her two subordinates began to consider themselves very
unlucky; after all, they were pretty much stuck with
her, like it or not. Despite their doubts, they had
to follow her wherever she went.
Yet, as they did so, they couldn't help but have a
very bad feeling about this mission.
/**************/
With a swing of the lightsaber, the tree fell down
across the looming ravine, creating an instant bridge.
Deactivating the energy blade, Ranma nodded in
satisfaction. Waiting for the tree to stabilize, he
stepped up on the trunk and casually strolled over to
the other side, not giving the raging torrent below a
second look. Once he reached the other side, he
motioned for Rosh to walk across.
Rosh shrugged in reluctanct compliance. Ever since
their little 'discussion' fifteen minutes ago, he had
treaded the waters with a mixture of fear, hatred and
respect. Though it had been difficult at first, he'd
kept silent and avoided any sort of conversation with
Korr.
After he saw how deadly a shot Korr was, Rosh was
convinced that maybe he shouldn't try and push his
luck; one could never know if Korr wouldn't shoot him
on the spot next time.
Besides, Rosh was worried for the wounded back at the
shuttlecraft. He knew that if he wasted more time by
stirring up Korr's nest of hornets, their chances of
living to see another day would be severely decreased.
In any case, he was still unarmed and, whether he
liked it or not, was forced to rely on Ranma for
protection, no matter how much it wounded his pride.
However, dwelling on his wounded pride was quickly
beginning to be replaced by jealousy.
To date, they'd already encountered three more of
those reptiles, and Ranma had easily nailed them all
with headshots each and every time. The ponytailed
man made it look so effortless that Rosh wasn't sure
if he was showing off or not.
One of those shots had been made while the reptile had
leaped down towards them from a branch thirty-odd feet
above the ground.
Rosh had only caught the descending blur a second
before he was roughly shoved aside and, one quick
laser blast later, the beast's corpse had crashed in
the spot where he'd been.
Since then, Rosh was trying hard to ignore how much he
envied the skills Ranma had displayed. He found
himself failing as he continuously replayed what had
happened. And he also found himself wondering about
Korr's personality.
This led to him wondering what kind of life the other
man had previously led, what kind of training he'd
undergone to become what he was now.
As he considered Korr's seemingly impossible accuracy
with the blaster along with his attitude, a very
unpleasant possibility presented itself to him.
Was he trained as an assassin?
Rosh quickly began sweating and grew very nervous with
that idea. He reflexively looked at Korr's profile
and began considering it with what he knew of the
other man. So far, Korr had displayed fewer emotions
than a computer and maintained an ice-cold
personality.
On the other hand, assassins weren't known for being
humanitarian; Korr had already shown, however briefly,
that he'd been concerned about the injured people back
at the shuttlecraft. Then again, he could be faking
it as some sort of camouflage or something like that.
Damn! Rosh's fear soon developed into confusion. He
didn't know what to think anymore; his theories,
observations, and imagination began chasing each other
in circles.
He began to feel an urge to scream out loud to the sky
and rip his hair out. Such was the magnitude of the
influence Korr had on him. Damn it all!
Unfortunately, he soon discovered that it was a very
bad idea to ignore where one was walking. His right
foot, while stepping forward, abruptly found itself
bumping into the slightly charred end of the fallen
tree. And since the height between the ground and the
tree were different.....
"What th---!"
Splat.
"Owwwwww...."
All things considered, Rosh should've been grateful.
Although he did almost knock himself senseless (and
rather painfully) on the rough, unyielding wood, it
was the tree that kept him from falling to certain
death into the ravine.
Of course as usual, Ranma was completely blunt in his
response. There was no 'Glare of Death' this time,
though there was the slightest traces of what could've
been exasparation in his eyes.
"Penin, you klutz. What's the matter with you? Quit
screwing around; we don't have time to waste. Get up
or I'll leave you behind."
Having said his piece, Ranma then proceeded to start
climbing a nearby tree, wanting to check their
progress towards the Massassi temple and see if they
were still on track.
"Damnit! I'm in pain here, you idiot! You could at
least help me up, you know!?" Unfortunately, either
Ranma was ignoring him or he was already too high up
to have heard.
Still lying facedown on the tree bridge, Rosh had
missed Ranma climbing up into the three. Groaning in
self pity, he lamented that this was not one of his
better days. As he slowly got up, Rosh reached up to
feel his face and cursed loudly.
A large bruise was already forming on the right side
and he knew that he would look like half of something
the cat dragged in.
Crap, this was Ran--, no wait, it was his own fault
for not paying attention where he was going. While
Rosh might be stubborn and hard-headed at times, he
was not in the habit of blaming his problems on other
people. At least, not all the time.
Carefully making his way over to the other side, he
looked around for Korr. When he couldn't find him,
Rosh was beginning to grow angry at being left behind.
Regardless of the abuse heaped upon him by Korr, he
didn't really believe the cold-blooded sociopath would
have done that to him.
"Emperor's damnation!" he cursed, then impulsively
dashed off into the jungle. "Korr, you bastard!
Where the hell are you!?"
Within seconds, he was lost from sight.
Eight minutes later, Ranma dropped down from the
branch into a crouched stance. He looked around, a
small frown tugging at the corners of his mouth when
he noticed his companion's disappearance.
"How.......inconvenient," he stated. "I should have
had the Rodian come with me instead of him."
/**************/
At his vigil near the shuttlecraft's open side hatch,
Dah'kk was fervently wishing that he'd switched places
with Penin. The Zabrak nurse was nice, but gods above
and below, her nonstop chatter was really getting on
his nerves!
"Y' wanna know sumthin' funny? Ah wuz accident'ly
engaged ta two guys back in med school, and Ah didn't
even know it! They wuld buy me all sorts 'f gifts and
treat me ta all th' best rest'rants; dear o' dear, Ah
wuz in heav'n, don'cha know? Half th' time, I didn't
even hav' ta spend a dime on myself 'n food an'
entertainin' myself. Oh gosh, Ah wish I culd go back
ta thos' days. Hey huney, d'ya think Luke Skywalk'r
will treat us all ta a 'Welcom' New Students' party
bash or sumthin' like it. I sur' wish he does! He
sounds like a very nice man, don'cha think so? An'
anuther thin'......"
The Rodian wasn't the only one who was suffering. The
others who were awake, including the pilot, two of the
Twi-leks, and one of the Kel-dor males were all
unfortunately experiencing the same thing.
They really needed to be rescued, now more than ever.
Dah'kk's right round-shaped, black filled eye was
twitching. At the moment, he was seriously thinking
about shooting himself to end the pain. At the rate
Aserna was carrying on, he didn't know if he could
hold on to his sanity for long.
"Hey y'all, Ah hav an idear! Since this 's sorta like
a campout, let's sing sum songs! Ah'll start! Ah luv
ya, ya luv me; we're a happy family! With a great big
hug..." [1]
The indigenous wildlife near the shuttle were minding
their own business until they were startled by several
loud cries that shouted in agonized unison.
"NOOOOO!!! MAKE IT STOP, OH PLEASE, MAKE IT STOP!"
At that instant in the Jedi Academy, while listening
to Katarn, Luke Skywalker's body noticeably stiffened.
"We lost track of the shuttle soon after it entered
Yavin's atmosphere... Luke, what's wrong?"
The tow-headed Jedi Master had suddenly looked up at
the ceiling, having barely registered Kyle's words.
He said in a distant tone of voice, "I just felt a
minor disturbance in the Force.....as if a handful of
voices suddenly cried out in agony and were being
subjected to some sort of horrible torture nearby. We
have to move quickly, or else we won't have any new
trainees left to teach. Kyle, please go gather the
senior students and get them ready. We leave in
fifteen minutes."
"You got it, Luke."
/**************/
Rosh Penin had lost track of how much time had elapsed
since Korr had disappeared and left him behind. For
that matter, he didn't really care.
Less than a minute after he began searching for him,
Rosh arrived at the conclusion that he didn't need
to waste time looking for Korr. He still had the
beacon, and the injured people at the shuttlecraft
still needed help.
So with all that in mind, he'd switched priorities,
kicking 'Search for Ponytailed Prick' down to the
bottom of the list and bringing up 'Locate Massassi
Temple'.
He'd already climbed up a tree to check his position.
It was with relief he'd discovered that he was only
slightly off track. He'd long since corrected and
periodically rechecked his course.
After a while, he began to rant out loud; not one of
his better ideas, as he would come to regret later.
"Stupid Ranma. It's all his fault I'm in this
godforsaken jungle. Dammit, why the hell did he have
to force me to go with him, that cold-blooded nutcase.
I could've been safely back in the shuttle, waiting
to be rescued!"
Rosh took a moment to reconsider his words.
"I take that back. There's no way in hell that I'd
place myself back in the shuttle just to be tortured
by that air-headed ditzy nurse! Man, now that I think
about it, I should've never applied to the Military
Academy."
He took a moment to take a breather and then continued
on.
"And I could've been home at a barbecue![2] Stupid
Korr, this is all your fault!"
"Instead here I am, trudging through this humid,
vegetation-filled crap, sweating like a rancor in
heat, with hungry, man-eating predators hiding all
around me, just waiting to get a taste of the good old
#6 Penin meat special!"
Rosh shook his head in disgust and threw a fruitless
glare at forest.
He really should have been more careful of what he was
saying.
Rosh didn't know what warned him; some instinct or
maybe the Force. All he knew was that he sensed
something moving towards him from the right. He
turned, looked, and immediately started running for
his life.
He would've spat a short curse but time was a precious
commodity at the moment. Thus, he made sure to hold
the beacon securely against his chest and focused all
his energy into running. Rosh didn't get a clear
look, but what little he'd seen was more than enough.
Anyone with sense would do their utmost best to get
away from a large, dark-red furry feline-like beast
running at them with sharp, gleaming teeth.
As he ran, Rosh mentally added yet another thing to
the list that was Korr's fault.
/**************/
Somewhere behind Rosh, Ranma was quickly tree-hopping
his way towards the Massassi temple, oblivious to the
other man's predicament.
At the same time, elsewhere ahead of Rosh, three
cloaked and hooded figures paused. Sensing that one
of the two were rapidly coming their way, they
arranged for an appropriate welcome.
/**************/
Lines of sweat cascaded down Rosh's face as he
frantically pumped his legs to go faster and faster.
He didn't dare to look behind him to see how close his
pursuer was; he knew how these things worked, he'd
seen it happen on those holovid movies after all.
The second he turned his head, he would trip over an
exposed root or vine and it would be all over for
Alina Penin's oldest boy.
Thus he forced out all thoughts on how much his legs
hurt, how hard it was getting to breathe, EVERYTHING,
and just plain focused on staying more than one step
ahead of it.
Leaves and small branches slapped at his face and
body, the rapid rhythm puffs of air flew from his
mouth, the adrenaline sparking through his body, Rosh
had never felt so alive before. Then again, he had
good reason to.
For the most part, he ran on, partially blind. This
part of the forest was very dark, with only small
patches of light to help him negotiate his way. It
was enough so he was able to avoid being clotheslined
by any low hanging branch.
Whenever he would think that he couldn't go on any
further, the image of being painfully torn limb from
limb spurred him on.
After what seemed to be several minutes of being
chased (though in actuality was only twenty seconds),
Rosh broke clear of the forest out into a large
clearing with a wide river straight ahead. Beyond
that was more forest and beyond that to the right, was
the Massassi temple!
Apparently, by sheer luck, he'd been able to stay on
track. Rosh immediately made a beeline towards it.
The rustling of bushes from behind told him that the
red feline carnivore was after him. Damnit! Why
won't it just give up!
His legs churning for all they were worth, Rosh eyed
the river with dismay. It was obvious that he
couldn't run across it, the drag of the downstream
current would slow him down enough for the feline to
catch him.
No, the only way to get across was to jump across.
The river was pretty wide, but Rosh was positive that
he could make it. He had no other choice, if he
wanted to live.
That was always a good incentive.
The river was coming closer, but he knew without a
doubt that his pursuer was quickly gaining, being on
open ground meant that it didn't have to contend with
maneuvering around trees and other such obstacles.
With the strength of desperation, Rosh gathered up his
flagging energy and focused it into his legs for one
last burst of speed.
Five feet. Four feet. Three feet. Two feet. One
feet. He was now at the riverbank.
"Ohgoshohgoshohgoshohgoshohgoshthishadbetterfriggin work!!!'
With that last thought, Rosh tensed his leg muscles
and jumped for all he was worth. For a single moment,
it was as if time slowed down and he was hanging over
the river, inching forward at a snail's pace. From
his position, he knew he would make it safely to the
other side with inches to spare.
When his left foot finally touched down on the ground,
time resumed its normal passage. However, before he
could even start to be happy about that, the forward
momentum from his leap transferred to his landing.
In other words, he was unable to keep his balance upon
landing and tripped, finding himself for the third
time in one day, face flat on the slightly moist
ground.
For a second, Rosh lied still, confused as to what had
happened. His adrenaline, which had served him so
well in preventing him from becoming catfood, quickly
left his body, leaving him feeling weak as a kitten.
He lifted his head and then suddenly, his eyes widened
as he abruptly remembered what was chasing him. He
quickly rolled over just in time to see the
feline-like predator launch itself over the river,
just like he'd done.
And unless he did something very soon, said
feline-like predator would be landing right on him.
Completely frozen by fear, Rosh did the only thing he
could. Reflexively throwing his arms over his face,
the young man screamed at the top of his lungs.
"MOOOOMMMMIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!" [3]
Two heart-beats passed.
Nothing happened. There was no impact of an oversized
cat on top of him, there was no unbearable pain of his
skin being ripped open by razor edged canines, there
was no spurting of blood from ravaged blood vessels.
He was still alive! But how?
Rosh cautiously opened his eyes and lowered his arms.
He looked around uneasily and immediately shouted out
in surprise.
The red cat was still there over him, but something
had frozen it in mid-air. For a moment, Rosh thought
he was dreaming or hallucinating, but a female voice
soon dispelled that theory.
"I'm sorry to interfere with your business, my feline
sister, but I'll take over from here. Talna!"
/**************/
From the treelines where they'd been watching the
amusing chase, Crimson had been tempted to let the
predator catch the prey.
But at the last moment, her desire to have a little
fun changed her mind; with that decided, she motioned
to Talna, who understood what to do.
The three Disciples casually walked out into the open,
Talna with her hand outstretched, using the Force to
hold the large feline in place.
They stopped at a certain point, Crimson a little
ahead of her two subordinates. In an overly dramatic
tone, she said "I'm sorry to interfere with your
business, my feline sister, but I'll have to take over
from here."
She pointed at the forest on the other side and
ordered, "Talna!"
Her subordinate nodded, her brow wrinking with the
effort, and slowly dropped her live cargo at the
designated area.
The red feline landed on her feet, snarled angrily at
the three women and for one second was about to attack
them. However, her animal instincts, which had kept
her alive all these years on Yavin, warned her against
that move. These three were definitely more dangerous
than she ever could be. Hissing in displeasure, she
wheeled around and vanished within the forest.
Rosh let out a breath of pure relief and he remained
where he was for a few seconds, letting himself
recover from the exhausting run. If he hadn't
prepared himself physically for the New Republic
Military -- he shook his head; he did not want
to go there. It was a good thing that his rescuers
had arrived when they did.
When he felt his legs were sturdy enough to support
him again, Rosh stood up with some difficulty and
faced them. He assumed that they were from the Jedi
Academy; Skywalker must've found out about their
predicament, somehow. After all, he was a Jedi
Master and probably had his ways.
His initial greeting died quickly when he got a good
look at them. There were three of them, undisputedly
female, and what really took Rosh aback was their body
language and their choice of clothing.
His intuition told him in no uncertain terms that the
shortest one in the middle was the leader, and she was
tense and angry at something, or someone. Check that,
not angry, more like ... hostile. Very, very hostile.
The body language of one of the two behind wasn't
nearly as tense or hostile as the leader's was, but
neither was it encouraging. The tallest one seemed to
be neutral, perhaps even a little sympathetic, but
that was probably his imagination.
Also, their clothing was not giving him any assurance
at all either. In his opinion, those black hooded
robes they wore practically screamed out "Danger!" to
his intuition. With every inch of their body covered,
except for the mouth and chin, Rosh decided that it
was quite evident they weren't going for a 'positive'
public image.
In appearances alone, they looked very ominous and
forbidding to him and a sudden chill ran up his spine.
That said, Rosh didn't think that Luke Skywalker would
approve of such attire. He found himself idly
wondering how they could stand being almost completely
covered like that during such a hot day like now.
Rosh was beginning to have a bad feeling about all
this. His throat became suddenly dry, and the relief
he'd felt at being rescued winked out and was being
replaced with apprehension.
Although he knew it would fail, he tried anyway.
"Thanks ladies," he began cautiously. "I would've
been catfood if you three hadn't shown up when you
did. Say, how did you manage to find me all the way
from the Academy?"
His question went unanswered. The one in the middle
who seemed to be in charge stepped forward, her mouth
turning up into an eager and hungry grin. She
unhooked her black and red lightsaber and ignited it.
The resulting *snap-hiss* made Rosh flinch, which she
enjoyed seeing. The bruised half of his face made her
snicker derisively, lowering her opinion of him by
several depths.
It was at this time that every inch of Rosh's body
screamed at him that he was in a lot of trouble. He
wasn't an idiot; from the stories he'd heard of the
fall of the Empire, these were probably Sith, like
what Darth Vader and the Emperor had been.
Taking some steps backward, Rosh pasted a nervous
smile on his face and tried to negotiate.
"Okay, let's have everyone calm down and I'm sure we
can make a deal. C'mon, whadaya say? I'm not even a
trained Jedi yet, meaning I'm no threat to you at
all. So how about letting me go, c'mon, please?"
Unfortunately, his pleading failed to result in the
desired conclusion. Crimson began advancing on him,
matching him step for step, and brought her lightsaber
to ready.
Behind her, Narissa seemed on the verge of saying
something, but decided against it.
"Typical of a man; not having the courage to die with
dignity. I'll be doing Skywalker a favor by helping
him weed out pathetic worms just like you! Die, you
weak excuse for a male!!"
Rosh had a response ready for that.
"Oh, shit."
Crimson dashed forward and she lifted her lightsaber
for a slashing maneuver. All of a sudden, in
mid-step, the Force alerted her to an incoming threat
from across the river.
Stopping in her tracks, she swiveled in the necessary
direction and yelled out "Ambush!" while bringing her
blade up defensively in an appropriate block.
It was a good thing too, because less than half a
heart-beat later, a burst of laser bolts were fired at
them from the trees on the other side of the river.
Reacting quickly himself, Rosh took this opportunity
to dash into the woods, heading straight for the
Massassi Temple. They were distracted, good. Now he
had to reach the Temple before they caught up to him.
At their superior's cry, Narissa and Talna activated
their lightsabers and prepared to defend themselves.
All three ignored Rosh's escape; they could easily
catch up to him after they disposed of this newest
problem.
Unfortunately, things weren't as easy as they'd
assumed.
Crimson easily picked off the laser bolt that blazed
towards her face; as did Narissa. However, the last
member of their group wasn't quite as successful.
Talna had been a split-second too slow to react. She
ALMOST made it as she swung her lightsaber up in a
half-circle to deflect the incoming bolt. Despite her
attempt, the laser bolt shot past the energy blade,
missing by a fourth of an inch, and burnt itself right
between her eyes. [4]
She fell on her back, convulsed for a bit then became
still as she entered death's final embrace.
Crimson's eyes narrowed. Whoever ambushed them, and
she was certain it was only one person, was one hell
of a shot. All of those laser bolts had been aimed at
the exact same spot for all three of them.
And what was more to consider was the speed of which
the laser bolts had been fired.....no hesitation
between each shot. Just zap-zap-zap and that was it.
Knowing instantly that their comrade was dead, Crimson
and Narissa didn't even bother to tend to her. They
absently realized that Rosh had disappeared, but they
didn't worry about that now.
The two of them wisely kept their guard up, not eager
to dash into such an obvious trap, preferring to wait
for their hidden attacker to show themselves.
"Narissa, go catch that coward who ran away," Crimson
ordered. "I'll deal with this one."
"Sure thing Ma'am," her subordinate acknowledged and
began to head towards the forest.
Only to be forced to defend herself when the second
round of laser beams flashed into existence. This
time however, instead of going for the both of them,
they were all directed at her.
"You stupid idiot!" her superior roared at her.
"Have you forgotten!!? NEVER turn your back on an
enemy!"
"S-sorry Ma'am!" Narissa exclaimed, letting the Force
guide her hand and she deflected every beam
successfully.
Though she wasn't skilled enough to redirect them
straight back at their source, she was capable enough
to angle them in a way so they wouldn't burn her foot
off or accidentally fly in Crimson's direction.
The young blonde shivered at the thought of what would
occur should her superior's wrath, already provoked by
her blunder, be incensed further by the latter.
It became obvious that their hidden ambusher was
trying to buy their prey additional time. It was also
clear to Crimson that he or she would keep firing at
Narissa, further stopping her from chasing the man,
which led to said man getting farther and
farther away with each breath.
Of course, that simply wouldn't do at all.
Busily defending herself, Narissa was surprised when
her leader's blade shot out and deflected one, then
two laser bolts.
"Ma'am?" she asked uncertainly.
"Go," Crimson stated, an angry undertone evident as
she stepped in front of her. "I'll cover you."
"Thanks a lot, Ma'am! Be right back in a minute!"
Narissa caroled happily and sped into the forest.
The instant her subordinate vanished into the trees,
the barrage stopped. Crimson smirked; she'd expected
that to happen.
"Come on out and face me, if you have the guts for it,
you ambushing, cowardly piece of filth!"
She'd expected another fruitless barrage of lasers;
she'd expected the ambusher to run away. What she
didn't expect was the person to actually meet her
challenge.
Out of the woods, as if he didn't have a care in the
world, calmly strolled Ranma Korr, weaponless except
for his lightsaber held in his hand.
Stopping a few feet from the riverbank, he regarded
the her with a measured look, as if mentally
calculating her threat potential.
"Ambushing?" he asked in a mildly interested way. "A
curious description, coming from someone who was
definitely involved in a certain uncalled for, sudden
attack on a certain shuttlecraft backaways."
"Pheh," snorted Crimson. "I'll admit that you got
guts to blame that on me. Not that it matters since
I'm wasn't the one who did it."
It was true; it had been Tavion who had blasted the
shuttlecraft's engines with the Scepter of Ragnos.
"And yet, you did nothing to stop it and are in league
with whoever WAS responsible. That makes you," he
pointed at her, "guilty by association."
Her patience finished, Crimson brandished her weapon
and shouted at him, "Enough talking! You ambushed us
and killed one of my own, you bastard! I'm soo going
to enjoy this...."
With that, she brought up her lightsaber to the ready
and began walking towards the river, never taking her
eyes off him.
With an eager gleam of anticipation forming in her
eyes, she found herself growing excited.
The short lived mystery had been solved already; with
the lightsaber as proof, obviously he was a Jedi. How
else could the accuracy of his blaster shots could be
explained? [5]
This would be her first battle with a Jedi; hopefully
he would provide her with a good fight. That Twi-lek
slut was good, but she wasn't yet her equal in pure
lightsaber combat. She was almost there however, and
the 'practice' battles between the two of them weren't
always one-sided.
Crimson entertained the faint hope that this man would
prove to be as good, but she doubted it.
By reflex, Crimson probed him with her Force senses
and became greatly puzzled, though her face didn't
show it. Unless she was mistaken or unless he was
trying to deceive her into underestimating him, this
was the same guy she sensed earlier, the one with
hardly any Force potential.
Just what kind of stupid trick he was trying to pull?
She spat in anger. Just like a man to trick a woman
in order to make her misjudge him, so he could stab
her in the back when she wasn't paying attention.
Trick or not, he was going to die today at her hands!
And like she'd said, there was the matter of
vengeance.
Talna had been a decent subordinate and, barring any
new female initiates, it would be extremely difficult
to replace. At least her death would help Crimson by
focusing her thoughts of revenge. She flipped off the
hood, letting her face catch the afternoon sunlight.
Black hair with blue highlights that reached the
middle of her back was securely tied back in a tight,
double knot. Wrathful brown pupils regarded her enemy
with scorn. A furious scowl marred what was otherwise
an attractive face.
"Whoever you are, you wouldn't believe how big a
mistake you've just made. Your life, as of now, is
forfeit, you stupid, suicidal MAN!! Please, do me a
favor and try to put up at least a little bit of
resistance."
Her face emphasized her promise by twisting into a
decidedly evil and menacing expression which had put
fear into the hearts of many men.
It was completely wasted on Ranma, who didn't
acknowledge it one bit. He shrugged, his posture
giving off vibes of indifference, and ignited his
lightsaber.
The chips of ice that vaguely resembled his eyes met
her burning glare directly, showing not an inch of
fear.
Holding the humming light-green energy blade a few
inches away from his face, Ranma gave Crimson her
answer.
"We'll see."
End Chapter 2
Began May 26, 2006
Finished June 16, 2006
Revised June 22, 2006
Further revised July 02, 2006
Author's Notes:
[Revised version 1.00]
Corrected the minor errors pointed out/discussed by
Sebastian Palm and David Johnston. Thanks guys!
Rewrote some paragraphs and added a one or two new
ones.
[Revised version 1.01]
Tried hard to follow as much of Elsa's advice as
possible. Fewer frequent scene breaks and decreased
the number of ellipses (I never noticed how much I
used them). The pacing, however, is going to stay
pretty much the same. And for the humor, well,
unless I think up some better ideas (and implement
them in a yet another future revision), it'll go the
same way.
Expanded on a few scenes and changed some minor
details to make this chapter connect more smoothly
with the next.
[1] = Yes, I'm evil. (chuckles)
[2] = Borrowed this line from ID4
[3] = If you haven't noticed already, Rosh is the
designated comic-relief...well, until Ranma thaws out
later in the story, though.
[4] = I figured if Jango Fett could catch a fully
trained Jedi Knight (Coleman Trebor) by surprise and
eventually get through his defenses (Attack of the
Clones).....
[5] = Crimson hasn't met Dash Rendar (Shadows of the
Empire) or Wes Janson of Rogue/Wraith Squadron, two of
the best gun-men in the Star Wars universe
Dave Wong
a.k.a. DarkWing
"Let's get dangerous"
Website: www.geocities.com/darksoar/start.html
Dave Wong
a.k.a. DarkWing
"Let's get dangerous"
Website: www.geocities.com/darksoar/start.html
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