The Rise and Fall of Darth Malak

Chapter 3:
Keep Your Friends Close
And Your Enemies Closer


Aaron walked into the lower city cantina, looking around the room, two of his crewmen, Ryann and Jadira sat in the corner of the cantina looking somewhat glum, and perhaps a little worse for ware.


“Hey, Blake, we were wondering when you’d finally show your face.” The blond haired male said as Aaron approached.


“Where’s Dana?” Aaron asked, ignoring Ryann and looking straight to his companion.


“The last we saw of her she walked out of here, she’d had too much to drink and was heading back to Davik’s Estate.” The dark haired woman replied, the slight hint of worry on her face for the safety of her sister.


“So what happened to her, I thought you’d show a little more concern about your own sister, Jadira.”


Aaron was slightly incensed that the two of them hadn’t returned and told him. The first opportunity to get off planet, even if it meant breaching the blockade, was something they would have to take. And he couldn’t do that if one of his crew was missing.


“Of course I’m concerned, Blake. From what we’ve heard she may have been taken by one of the local gangs, apparently someone saw them being dragged off after a brief struggle.”


“She must have been paralytic; no gang scum would take her down without a bloody fight.”


“The question is, Blake, what are we going to do, we need to get her out of there, you know what these gangs are like.”


“Then we had better start asking around, come on, get off your lazy asses. We’ll ask everyone in the cantina if we have to, but make no mistake, once we have her back, we’re taking these Bantha slime down, all of them, even if I have to get Davik to help.”


“Alright, Blake, you’re the boss, although causing us lazy after spending the past week with your Twi’Lek girls seems a little …”


Ryann was stopped mid speech by the look in Aaron’s eyes, that look that told him to shut the hell up if he didn’t want a whole load of trouble, it was sometimes better just to remain quiet when Blake was in this mood.


The three of them walked around the cantina, taking likely customers aside and questioning them. After an hour of questioning, the two words all of them came back with were ‘Black Vulkars.’


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Kasha pushed Nevara back against the cold tiled wall of the shower; she smiled as she lathered the soap in her hands, stepping forward and proceeding to lather the soap over Nevara’s breasts, stroking her nipples until they were hard.


The slight moans of pleasure were enough to tell Kasha that Nevara was enjoying herself, it was a pity Carth wasn’t going to join them, she thought, she actually quite liked the man, a little serious, but he was at least cute, far better than many she was used to in her profession.


Kasha let the soap fall to the floor, continuing to lather the thick moisture she had spread over Nevara’s body, she took both of Nevara’s hands in one of her own and held them by the wrists above her head, Nevara struggled slightly, it was for effect more than anything, she could have taken the woman down with a single blow had she the mind to, but that wasn’t her thing.


Kasha laughed wickedly as she tightened her grip. Her other hand lightly trailing down Nevara’s body, until it reached her thigh, she pressed forward, taking Nevara’s tongue into her mouth, Nevara was happy to let someone else take the lead for a change.


Kasha turned Nevara around, her hands still held above her head, the other roaming over her breasts, down her stomach until she reached between Nevara’s legs, running her fingers though the moistness, the almost feather light touch of her fingertips stroking between Nevara’s legs until Nevara screamed out her name, trying to turn to face Kasha, she felt herself held tight in a grip she had not expected from the lithe framed pleasure girl.


Nevara continued to cry out, until she could hold on no longer, she forced herself around to face Kasha, who immediately dropped to her knees, wiping away the last of lathered soap and pressing her lips to Nevara’s sex, her tongue entering her. Nevara pressed back tightly against the wall, taking Kasha’s head in her hands and pulling her in closer, she wanted her inside her, as much of her as possible.


Nevara thought of her adventures over the past year or so since her supposed accident, she had little memory of her life before that, but this past year had involved many such encounters. She had taken many lovers, men and women, even more than one partner, but perhaps none that had brought her so quickly.


But then the Sith assassin, Relkasha Kelrayne had trained with the best of them, and who was to say she couldn’t mix pleasure with murder, as long as the job was done, she would take what she could and enjoy every minute of it. The fact she could give as much pleasure as pain was merely something her instructors had taken great pleasure in teaching her.


Kasha looked up briefly into Nevara’s eyes, it was a little early to kill her, they still had some time left, ‘May as well make her death at least a little pleasurable’ Kasha thought, the smile on her face Nevara took for something completely different, completely oblivious to her true identity. It was she didn’t have more time to spend with her, her skills were wasted on such trivial pleasures, now if she had the time to torture her, that was something else entirely, some of her victims had lasted weeks.


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Mission led the way, Shaden followed, Zallbar brought up the rear, watching for any sign of treachery from the man they were leading to the Vulkar base. Within half an hour they could see the entrance to the Black Vulkar base.


“That’s it, right there.” Mission said, pointing to the heavy metal blast doors, they certainly weren’t going to be blasting their way in through the front entrance; even a lightsabre wasn’t going to be able to cut through such a defence as a blast door.


“Thank you …”


“Mission, he’s Zallbar. What’s your name?”


“It’s Shaden. You can leave now if you wish, Mission.”


“You should come back to the cantina with me and Big Z. We might be able to help you, but it could be just as dangerous as trying to rush the base.”


“How could you help me, I will not be responsible for putting you in danger, young lady.”


“Hey, less of the young lady, alright, jeez, I was just offering to help. We know of another way in, we just have to go into the lower city sewers.”


“The sewers?” The look of disgust at the thought of having to enter the sewers of Taris was quite obvious in Shaden’s expression, Mission laughed, if he was bothered by a little dirt on his hands, he wasn’t going to last long against the Vulkars.


Half an hour later they had all returned to the cantina in the hope they could work out some kind of plan, Mission was just glad she wasn’t being lectured about being too young.


The three of them readied themselves as two Mandalorian males and a female approached them. Mission watched suspiciously as the handsome man walked over to them, he seemed nice enough, not that that was any indication of his intention.


“I don’t suppose you know where we can find the Black Vulkars?” Blake questioned.


“Actually, we do, who’s asking?” Mission replied with a slight smile.


“The name’s Blake, Aaron Blake.”


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Anndreyya turned to face Brejik, the look of anger in her eyes was plain to see, she was supposed to be one of his most trusted lieutenants and here she was being asked to perform like a cantina pleasure girl.


Sashira actually giggled as she removed the other Twi’Leks remaining clothing, perhaps she was enjoying herself a little too much for Anndreyya, Bastila winced as the girl’s face shot to the side, Anndreyya slapping her hard, drawing a tear from the screaming girl.


“Leave her alone.” Bastila protested, she wanted to help the girl, defend her, but she was being forced to watch this cruel treatment, she hated Brejik, her emotions came flooding to the surface, Jedi were supposed to be beyond such petty reactions, but she couldn’t help herself. She knew she could free herself, but to do so would perhaps mean all their deaths, better to wait until there was a more opportune moment.


Brejik stood, walking over to Bastila’s cage, “You’re in no position to give orders, Jedi. I would worry about what is going to happen to you and the rest of you Republic scum before worrying about this cantina whore.”


“She’s just a dancer, Brejik, leave her alone.”


“Would you like to take her place?”


“I’ll see you dead before that ever happens, Brejik.”


“That’s what I thought, I’m not quite certain how you would go about that, but it could be amusing to see you struggle.”


“The only thing I will find amusing is seeing your head removed from your body.”


“And there I thought we were becoming friends.”


Bastila looked past him to the two naked Twi’Leks, Anndreyya had Sashira pushed back against Brejik’s desk, one hand held her breast, as she pushed her knees forcefully between her legs. Brejik turned and laughed, the smile on Sashira’s face had been replaced by one of fear, the young Twi’Lek wondering what this vile human male had planned for her. Brejik walked over to the desk, standing behind Anndreyya, his hands moving down her back, taking her buttocks in his hands, his fingers gradually parting her legs from behind. He pushed them both forward until Sashira was almost flat to the desk, Anndreyya on top of her. Brejik wasn’t here for anyone’s but his own entertainment, even Anndreyya was just another one of his possessions, as far as he was concerned, he could do with them all as he pleased, otherwise what was the point of being their leader.


Brejik undid his belt, allowing his trousers to fall to the floor, placing himself roughly behind Anndreyya; he thrust forward, bringing a cry from his lieutenant as he entered her. The girl, Sashira was a mere spectator for now as she lay beneath the older Twi’Lek woman, as were Bastila and the others who looked on in shear disgust, as Brejik had his way with the screaming Twi’Lek, his laughter held something disturbing, an almost inhuman disregard for all those present.


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Jennata’s light sabre flashed forward, deflecting a hail of blaster fire from the Sith patrol, Max turned and nodded his acknowledgment of thanks, the blaster fire would have torn him in half had she not stopped it.


Max grabbed his blaster, turned and fired wildly, hoping to hit one of the four Sith troopers before they managed to kill him and his companions. Yuri grabbed for his own weapon, Rena shrieked in horror as her friend’s head was blown apart by blaster fire. She dived for her own rifle, cursing as she took a glancing shot in the leg. She turned aimed and fire, lying where she had landed. The well aimed shot pierced the armour of the forward most Sith trooper, sending him sprawling to the floor. The officer ran forward, himself shooting his blaster pistol wildly. Jennata deflected the shots easily, the officer dived for cover as one of his own laser blasts was deflected and returned to burn through his throat, he gurgled, spat blood and collapsed to the floor holding onto his throat, gasping for air. Max’s next shot pierced the officer’s head just above the ear, removing any doubt that he would die.


Both Sith went to their knees, taking aimed shots as the two Republic soldiers aimed back at them. The lightsabre sliced the man’s body in half, returning to Jennata’s hand in time to deflect yet another shot from the remaining Sith trooper. Rena turned just in time to see Max holding his chest, the blaster fire having entered just above his heart, and exiting through the back of his left shoulder. He looked down at Rena, staggered forward and fell to the floor face first.


The look of horror on his face brought tears to Rena’s eyes; she fired repeatedly, wildly at first, until three shots hit the last trooper, his head, neck and chest being blown apart inside his armour.


Jennata and Rena watched as he slumped to the floor, dead before he had even touched the ground. The realization she had lost her two remaining companions, and was herself wounded in the leg, came back to hit her suddenly as she cried out in pain. She grasped her leg and tried in vain to stem the flow of blood, the flow of tears impossible for her to fight as she cried both from the incredible pain and the loss of her friends.


Jennata knelt in front of the Republic soldier and ran her hands over her thigh, the bleeding stopping almost instantly, the pain eventually subsiding as the soothing touch of the Jedi acted almost like a drug. Minutes later the wound was healed, but she was unlikely to be able to walk without a limp for awhile.


“They were my friends.” Rena stated as Jennata looked down at the two men.


“I’m sorry for your loss, but we have to go, if more Sith return, which they undoubtedly will to search the escape pods, we will likely share the fate of your friends.”


“But where can we go, we’re alone down here, nobody is likely to help us, that’s if we can even find anyone, I mean look at this place.”


There seems to be some kind of gated compound about ten minutes walk from here, perhaps we could try there, we need to find out if anyone else has survived, but we must be careful, the Sith will certainly be hunting for survivors.”


“Then we had better move, just don’t expect me to be running anytime soon. Do you think you could help me up. Thanks for healing my leg by the way; I would have died if you hadn’t been here.”


“Don’t mention it. I’m Jennata by the way; I suppose we should at least know each others names if we are to travel together.”


“I’m Rena, that’s Max and Yuri, not that you need to know their names now, I wish we had time to bury them.”


“I’m sorry, Rena, but we really do need to get out of this place.” Jennata replied as she lifted the other woman up, placing her arm around her shoulder and then they began to walk towards the compound, the village of the outcasts.


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