Zira Darkstar

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A/N: This was the first chapter I had a -lot- of trouble writing... Kept getting mental blocks and still feel the end result is under par... Hopefully I get over that for the next chapter.

~Beta'd by Envy~
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Chapter 15

Carth watched as Zira sliced open the lock on the door, the sounds of the Vulkars ringing in his ears. He could tell they were starting a sweep and could be there any moment. Great… And we had to wander into a spice house for these pathetic Hutt slugs.

Carth heard the door give a hiss and open, but as he turned to look, there was a woman holding a blaster on Zira. Yay.. Is there no such thing as a friendly face in this forsaken Lower City!?

He watched Zira hesitate for a moment, and he knew there was no way he’d get a shot lined up on this woman before she could blast a hole clean through Zira’s beautiful face.

“Stop right there, or I’ll give you a blaster shot right between the eyes! Now, what are you doing here?” Carth noticed the icy chill of the woman’s voice as she kept the weapon trained expertly on Zira. There’s no doubt… this woman isn’t making a threat.

“Who are you?” He heard Zira ask. Carth had already begun to slowly edge himself to the side to try and be ready to take a shot at the woman if he’d need to.

“No. I’m the one with the blaster pointed at you. I get to ask the questions. Now, what are you doing here?”
“I was just exploring. I didn’t know anyone was in here.”

Carth tensed as he heard the hum of a blaster being over charged. “Well go explore somewhere else. There’s nothing interesting for you in here. This is your only warning, if you bother me again, you won’t walk out of here alive.”

Whew… Least we might walk out of this one al- His thoughts were cut short as he watched Zira stupidly take a step towards the woman. “We just-”

Carth watched as the woman re-trained the blaster on Zira. “I gave you a chance to get out of here and leave me alone, but I guess you’re just too stupid to take it. Now you’ll see why I’m the most dangerous assassin on Taris.”

He reacted as fast as he could. He moved to step forward and shove her aside, a blaster already in his left hand. As he moved he watched as Zira began to glow a light blue. She dove to the side, but was too late. Carth watched an overcharged blast hit her hard in the chest and the glowing blue shield disappeared almost entirely.

His mind flew through the possibilities, and the idea of seeing a lancing blast burn through Zira quickened his hands. He quickly pulled a concussion grenade from his belt and hit the impact mode. Even as he wound back to throw, he watched as the deadly woman’s weapon tracked Zira to the floor. She had barely managed to start pulling her weapons.

Carth held his breath for a second after releasing the grenade, the apprehensiveness causing a knot in his stomach. Only after seeing the device slam into her chest did he allow himself a breath. The grenade went off a second later, the blast launched her back. Carth watched as several wild shots began to fire from her blaster.

Carth drew his own blasters, but before he could line up a shot, Zira was upon the assassin. He watched as Zira viciously carved into her. Several of the hits only sank deep enough to hurt, the assassins armor providing quite a bit of resistance even against Zira’s vibroblades.

The woman managed to lash out a kick that caught Zira in the throat and pitched her to the ground. As Zira’s body was no longer between the two of them, she seemed to finally register Carth as a target. He watched her level a blaster in his direction. Reacting in the only way he could think, Carth threw himself to the side in an attempt to get behind the wall.

He could hear the weapon discharge. He felt the heat of a blaster bolt burn close to his stomach and then he heard several of them slam into the wall beside the door. Carth stood quickly, and he heard the woman advancing towards the doorway. Finally… a break. At least if she’s pursuing me I might be able to buy Zira enough time to escape.

He leapt from the ground and began to sprint. He could hear several shots ringing out behind him, and he realized that not only did he have this assassin woman behind him, he also had managed to pincer himself between her and the group of Vulkars they had been originally fleeing.

Got to get some cover! His eyes fell upon an apartment door and he quickly rushed to it. He barely had a chance to slow down before several blaster bolts scored the side of the door beside him. He hit the open button just as two blaster bolts burned into his side. The first was soaked up almost entirely into his armor, but the second burned into muscle.

The blasts hit with such force that Carth felt himself being thrown forward and landed inside the apartment. Stars had burst before his eyes and he felt as though the gravity generators on a ship had just been shut down. For a second he felt weightless, swimming in the see of stars that had all but enveloped him.

A loud sound pulled him from his weightless world and pulled him back into a pained reality. He rolled from his stomach onto his back, as he tried to blink away the stars that now clouded his vision. He’d made it into the apartment. He could see the assassin coming towards him quickly her blaster trained and he realized that the only thing that must have kept him alive was the darkened room he’d landed in.

She can’t see me right now, or I’d be dead. The burning in his lower back reminded him of the blaster bolt and he looked up to the keypad beside the door. He aimed a shaky blaster at it and pulled the trigger once, afraid the muzzle flash might illuminate him enough for her to get a kill shot if he fired more than once. The blast connected and sent an override code to the door and he watched it slam shut between himself and the crazy woman.

He didn’t have long, he could hear renewed blaster exchanges. He forced himself to sit up, pain shooting to the tips of every limb as he did so. He fumbled for his pack and pulled out a medpac. The pain was starting to make his hand quiver. He pulled out a kolto syringe and forced himself to twist enough to push the long needle into his lower back.

He felt as though he was going to be sick, the pain was ebbing outward now. He was starting to feel cold, and his vision was beginning to tunnel. He managed to get his wavering thumb over the end of the plunger and discharged it all into the wound. The new feeling was enough to force him to throw up.

As he heaved, he found a small bit of solace in the fact that it had done it’s job. His vision had cleared a bit and his hands had slowed down their tumultuous shaking. Carth grabbed hold of a small table he’d come to rest beside and used it to steady himself as he pushed himself to his feet. Can’t keep laying down… Zira would kill me if I let her die cause I was taking a nap.

His stance was a bit unstable, but his soldier training was beginning to kick in. Through no force other than will, Carth moved to the doorway and began to try and splice some wires together. Can’t exactly try to play hero if I can’t even open the door. Several of the wires were still live and Carth felt the sharp pain in his joints each time he dumbly grabbed the wrong ones. He was basically just shoving random wires together and hoping.

Beyond the door he could hear fewer and fewer blaster shots. She must be about out of Vulkars by now… then she’ll be going back for Zira…. Becoming exceedingly frustrated, Carth punched the door control’s remains. “Open you piece of shit!” He felt several strong jolts of electricity hit him, but he the door responded in kind. Opening to the hallway beyond.

He moved to the door frame and looked around the edge to the sounds of the fighting. He felt the blood drain from his face and an icy chill run through him. Zira was cleaving her way through several of the Vulkars in an attempt to get closer to the assassin. Brilliant… Absolutely brilliant… He rounded the corner and opened fire with both of his blaster pistols.

The shots burned into one of the only remaining Vulkars. Dropping the Niktos to the ground. He watched in amazement as Zira moved. He’d never seen anyone move so quickly or gracefully. The sound of the assassins blasters wrought Carth from his state of stupor. He watched as several pieces of permacrete exploded just behind Zira’s head. She’s not going to make it… Carth aimed towards the assassin and began to fire as fast as he could possibly pull the triggers on his blasters.

He didn’t dare do anything but keep firing, gratified to see most of the blasts burn into her back. He finally stopped firing as Zira took her feet in front of the woman. Carth finally felt a bit of relief as the assassin crumpled to the ground. Zira was standing there, and he couldn’t help but notice just how beautiful she looked at that moment. For a second, he could swear she was glowing.

She was trying to say something, but he couldn’t hear her. “Are you alright?” He called to her, as he began to walk towards her. He watched as her eyes first filled with tears, then seemed to roll back into her head. A small trail of blood streaming down the front of her forehead. She collapsed across the assassin’s corpse and Carth ran over to her.

He quickly examined her and found that several small pieces of permacrete had lodged themselves into her scalp. He lifted her up, surprised at just how light she was for a fighter. He decided that the safest place to stay would probably be the assassin’s apartment. It’s not like she’s going to need it anyway…

He hastily took her into the dead woman’s apartment and sealed the door. Then laid her down and pulled out the remains of his medpac. He found a small pair of tweezers and began to pull the shards of stone from her head, making sure to watch her breathing as he did so. After picking out all the bits of rubble, Carth took the last kolto syringe and began to put a small bit in each wound. Luckily for her, it seemed as though none of the bits managed to actually penetrate the skull.

Carth laid her down on the only bed and took a seat in the chair beside it. He watched over her for several hours, making sure she was stable. He spent most of the time as he watched her pondering things from his past, and how it was that she managed to stay conscious after her wounds. His thoughts finally drifted off, along with his own consciousness as he fell asleep in the chair beside her bed.

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A/N2: Yes, that means the kiss in the last chapter was a product of Zira's imagination.
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