Another Bounty Hunter sat posed, sniper rifle level and ready, it’s site tracking the hunters mark in the street a few blocks down.

The other hunters were stupid to try to face this mark face to face, not with her being a Jedi, or at least have the potential to become one in the near future. This hunter wasn’t going to be stupid like the rest and opted to strike from afar, where the mark wouldn’t see it even coming.

Unseen under the mask he smiled. Yes he was a smart one, for even if the girls obvious injuries made her weak, her two bodyguards were nearly as deadly as she was, if not more. Unlike the other Bounties before him, he had done his research and knew of the powerful allies this girl had.

Yet he still died.

So focused was he on the sure score on his mark that he didn’t hear it coming, but as fast as the thing was moving he probably wouldn’t have anyway. He just knew sudden pain unlike anything else he could imagine, his rifling slipping from his fingers and crashing to the street below. By the gods it felt like his insides were being torn up, only to look down in horror to see that was really what was happening.

During his last agonizing moments of life, he could only watch helplessly as the short crazed creature tore into him, the creatures claws ripping through his armor as it was flesh, and his flesh like it was nothing but air. He had never seen a Trandoshan attack so viciously before…

He never will again….

….

The K’Satizitus panted, holding the deceased body of the Bounty Hunter by it’s spine, blood soaking his clothing and spattered all over his face. There was no need to kill the Bounty Hunter, but the frustration of the search eliminated the last shreds of patience the spirit had. With it came the urge to kill something, anything, and the Bounty Hunter just happened to be the first living being it came across.

Casually it threw the body over the edge, before taking a deep breath to calm itself. Even a Chaotic spirit such as it knew the need for steady nerves and calm thoughts in times of crisis and he realized that mindlessly zipping all over Hsskhor was not going to enable him to find the skull any quicker. He needed to focus his search on the most likely area’s the skull would have been taken too, something he had little doubt Rissonik and the rest of the Clan were doing as well, in an effort to beat the spirit to the skull. Granted, he wasn’t sure Rissonik had figured out the puzzle, but at this point in time he couldn’t take any chances.

With a grunt, he jumped over the edge, landed a few feet away from where the body did, and right in front of a pair of K’Satikur Warriors and a human girl. The two warriors, knowing immediately who he was, took a couple of paces back, the fear on their faces evident. The girl however, stood her ground, a look of defiance on her young face.

“You think you can take me?” He chuckled at her, mildly amused. “The Jedi Master I faced stood a better chance then you. And in the condition you are in…you are double the fool to try to face me.”

Still chuckling, the amusing encounter having lightened his mood, the spirit turned away and jogged off, deciding not to even bother disposing of those three.

She and her trandoshan warriors had been looking around when something hit the ground near them, whatever it was had splashed up blood that pelted Lavality’s face and freaked her out momentarily, then a figure landed in front of them. She quickly noticed that the two warriors back away, but she didn’t
<O:p</O:p
“You think you can take me?”, she heard the Trandoshan say. “The Jedi Master I faced stood a better chance then you. And in the condition you are in…you are double the fool to try to face me.” It said and turned around while laughing

Lavality stared as the Trandoshan turned about and walked away. Just because you’re a spirit doesn’t mean you can’t be beaten she said to herself and took out a small dagger, and with a force so strong she pulled her arm back and threw it<O:p</O:p


Up in orbit

Tzhali and his troops had been cleaning up the debris left by the pirate attack, several capital ships from a local pirate clan had come in, at first they where going to fight, but then gave up when they noticed they where outnumbered 3 to 67. The pirate leader decided it wasn’t a good day to die and soon ordered his clan mate’s to leave the sector, leaving him behind to possibly broker a “deal” with Tzhali… although most people already knew that Tzhali doesn’t make “deals” with scum

“So… you like our terms?” The leader asked

Tzhali turned in his chair and looked out the semi-transparent window of his quarters. The pirate’s had attacked several of his relief convoy’s and where already in a position to blockade Trandosha. They had the ships and fire power… but there obstacle was Tzhali and his fleet, as well as the local Trandoshan fleet to that he could tell was just ITCHING to blow this guy away. Maybe it was because this pirate was once a client to the Trandoshan Dictator that killed himself months before… or maybe it was because he was one of the people responsible for destroying the convoy that the Serendevis Fleet had once had running the trade lanes.. the convoy that consisted of woman and children

The thought angered him. He knew the Trandoshan’s wanted nothing but calmness for the time being, and starting another war wasn’t something he was about to do… but every rule book and criminal database’s screamed at him to kill this son of a bitch, and maybe there was a way

“Tell me,” Tzhali said and began to interrogate his prospective client, which the pirate himself didn’t know that, after a few minute’s of talking Tzhali grinned, which even though no one was near him, a couple people on the bridge felt a chill go up there spine and instantly turned on the weapon systems for there destroyer

Second’s later, all that remained of the pirate leaders ship was a smoking cruiser cut in half… and the scattered remains of the pirate’s fleet, which numbered only 15, looking for mean’s out of the sector and quickly being cut off by Tzhali’s patrol fleets.

It was a combination of the Force and the faint sound of the knife whizzing through the air that warned the spirit. He whirled around and snatched the knife out of the air while in mid-spin. Still spinning, he flipped the knife over in his hand and during his second full spin released the knife, sending it back at Lavality at frightening speed. One of the warriors saw the impending doom and shoved Lavality aside, taking the blow instead. The knife punched into his chest like it was melted butter, only stopping after impaling his spine, it's pointed end sticking partly out of his back.

The warrior was dead before he even hit the ground.

The K'Satizitus was now facing Lavality once again, lilac eyes boring holes into her. "You really want to die that badly girl?" He said, his voice low and hissing. "Then let me help you."

He reached for the lightsaber on his belt, but paused and reconsidered. "But...I won't be quick about it." He added with a sly grin as he draw his normal sword instead. "I'll cut you to pieces...little by little. A means of torture a previous host liked using it was. Be interesting to see how well a human girl like you will hold up to it."

His free hand snapped forward and the remaining warrior suddenly dropped his weapon as his body suddnely folded in on itself, every bone in his body snapping. His face was twisted into an expression of unspeakable pain, pain that was well past even a K'Satikur's tolerance, his jaws open in a soundless scream before his form fell, his flesh almost 'melting' to the ground.

"Without the annoying gnats of course." The spirit said with a malicious grin.


*****

Asri sat perched on some shelving in the Council of Elders building, waiting patiently for the Council to end it's session. Her black cloak was wrapped completely around her body, making it impossible for anyone to see her without the aid of infravision. No one would think to look up in a brightly lit area, which worked well to her advantage.

The double doors finally opened and the Councilors started filing out. She spotted Russis talking to Naosha as they exited, toward the back of the group of Councilors. Quietly she jumped down and started following them, hoping they went their separate ways soon: the last thing she wanted to was give Rissonik's lifemate a heartattack when she pounced on Russis.

Finally the pair parted ways and Asri quickly closed the distance between them. To his credit he didn't scream when she wrapped her unarmed hand around his neck and flashed her K'Zur in face. Then the smell of urine reached her nose and she crinkled it in disgust. Does his guy have any sense of dignity? "You will come with me." She hissed in his ear.

"As...Asri? Is that you?" Russis stammered.

"No talk, we go." She growled, shoving him forward. "We go to your father's chambers." She then added with barely a whisper. "I'll explain when we get there."

Russis nodded and started walking, looking a bit confused by it all.

She glanced from side to side at what remained of the two warriors, she then knelt down next to the one that had a blade in his spine. “I shoulda told them to run,” she sighed and yanked the blade out of the warriors back, she then stood up and looked the spirit straight in the eye, then glanced down at the blade and tossed it, it’s end’s still sharp enough to piece the wall and stay inside

Lavality stood there and reached for her blade, then held it with her one hand that wasn’t hurting, she watched as color’s danced off the wall as the sunlight hit the shinning blade, or rather, what was still shining after she had used it on a bounty hunter that had attacked her not to long ago

“You seem to think you’re all mighty,” she stared at the spirit. “You forget, just because I’m ‘human’ doesn’t mean I’m weak”

A small grin creased her face, although she was right, she was also wrong, she may be human, but she was a human who had two serious wounds on her.. and she knew full well she had been an idiot going after him without heading back to get medical attention, but there hadn’t been enough time, not enough time, all she could do was to delay him just long enough for the trandoshan’s to find that skull

--

Tzhali and his fleet had finished moping up the rest of the pirate’s, it was a good day to hunt that’s for sure, one of his officer’s had stated after they took out a pirate destroyer that was making an attack run on one of the trading vessels that had recently began trading with the trandoshan’s

“Sir, I just got a report that Lavality’s shuttle crashed on Trandosha,” one of his officers said, there was no expression on his face… or rather there wasn’t any on his face when he had SAID that… but after seeing a sword come in front of his face, by another wookie who apparently didn’t like the ‘no expression’ part

“Where to far,” Tzhali said. “It’ll take us a good 10-15 minute’s to get back there… who do we have in that area?”

“Only two other ships, both are medical frigates,” another officer stated

He snarled. “Fine… have them send there X-wing squads to check the area

The spirit grinned evily and deflected the thrown blade with a blast of Force. "You have spirit, I'll give you that." He said, still grinning. "But soon you'll be nothing but a spirit."

He rushed forward suddenly, his feet not seeming to even move. Just before he reached her however he shifted to one side, purposely throwing off his aim and cut off a piece of her clothing instead. He repeated this again and again, striking unpredictably, cutting a piece of cloth here, a bit of flesh there. A couple of times the girl managed to parry his blow, but his chaotic fighting method made it virtually impossible to tell how he was going to strike next.

The K'Satizitus was toying with her obviously, but he was relishing the growing panic he was sensing from the girl. Eventually he will grow tired of this game and just finish her.

****

"Ok...so what is this about? Besides making me lose my digity back there...." Russis grumbled as he fumbled with a set of keys, one of which was the one to his father's old personal chambers.

"I have reason to believe that your father took something from the K'Satikur Clan during the rebellion." Asri explained, looking over her shoulder for any possible eavedroppers.

"I don't recall him claiming any tropheys prematurely. " Russis said.

"It was likely after you had joined the Separatists Russis." Asri said. "But either way I remember overhearing a couple of guards talking about it, hense my suspision."

"Hmm...so why bother with it now?"

"Because it's the key to freeing another's soul." Asri said simply as Russis finally found the right key and the door unlocked with a satisfying 'click'. Russis didn't pretend to understand what Asri just told him, just opened the door and allowed her to enter first.

The chamber had a stale odar to it as it hadn't been openned in several weeks, a light layer of dust covering everything. Asri stepped in lightly, though small puffs of dust still formed at her feet as she walked on the thick plush carpet within. She started to get worried when she didn't see what she was looking for, however Russis' sudden cry of fright caused her to glance his way and his shaking pointing handing directed her to the right spot.

The skull had been hung right by the door, in a small recess in the wall: she had passed right by it unawares when she entered the chambers. It looked somewhat like a normal Trandoshan skull, only twice as big and adorned with multiple horns. It's once bleach white surface was a dull tanish yellow and lined with numerous fine cracks: the wooden mounting didn't look to be in much better shape.

"So that's what it looks like." Asri said with a faint smile. "I can see why it gives people the creeps."

"Ok...so you found it. You're going to take it out of here right?" Russis said, backing away from the thing.

"I'm going to do one better." Asri said with a grin as she lifted up a chair. "Looks like it's going to be easy to..."

She didn't get to finish her sentence as she suddenly found herself flying backwards, the chair slipping out of her hands. She smashed into the far wall with a grunt, the wind knocked out of her.

"Ok...maybe it won't be so easy...." She moaned as she struggled to get back onto her feet.

"What just happened...." Russis said, his eyes wide.

"Skragging thing is embued with the Force." Asri growled. "Which means it can defend itself." It also means I have to find a way to destroy it quickly...as there's no doubt the spirit itself knows 'exactly' where it is now. She thought bitterly.

***

The spirit was starting to get bored of this game. This girl wasn't even a challenge and tormenting her wasn't very fun anymore. He had just started a final attack dash when something made him stop in his tracks. A warning. A sensation of danger. The feeling of the Force suddenly being used by him yet not by him.

The skull. He thought, his gaze slowly tracking toward the Council of Elders building. Someone had found it before him....and was trying to destroy it. A flare of anger crossed over his features: this girl was a diversion, nothing more, to buy Rissonik and others time to find the skull before him. At first he considerred killing the girl right then and there, as he was about to do anyway. No time he quickly realized and without a word he dashed off, not even putting away his sword. Heading for the Council of Elder's building.

The clock was ticking.

Lavality stood there and watched as he took off, wondering just what caught his attention. Her knee's where touching each other and her arm's hung to her side, she was bleeding all over and every bone, muscle, nerve; everything in her body ached

She heard the sound of an engine in the distance. "An X-wing..." she said and few 5 X-wing's fly over her position and toward the east

....

"We found a crashed shuttle; looks like Rissonik had some company"

~Any survivors?~

"If there weren't we'd already know, I was just told that Lavality went planet side for some reason.. and her 2nd in command said she was in a very big hurry, so much so that she neglected to take along her personnel guard," the squad leader said

~Fine.. keep searching the city.. she HAS to be there somewhere... although I really want to know why she would go planet side when-~

"BOUNTY HUNTER SHIP SPOTTED!" The squad leader yelled as he observed a craft, one used by the famous 'Baba Fett' landing on a near by building, depositing two hunter's before taking off again

The squad of X-wing's broke off, three going after the bounty hunter craft while another two flew over the city, trying to find Lavality

...

Lavality was walking, but every step hurt like a thousand bees. She finally just stopped. "This is getting me no where, if that spirit gets to that skull... where all finish... and he took off toward the council building," she said and stood up straighter, there wasn't an exposed part of her body that wasn't covered in blood and she felt weak, but she wondered and then took off in a sprint, that hurt ten time's more than walking

She rounded a corner and saw the council building - along with the spirit, her blade was still in her hand, but she didn't have strength to throw it this time, now she just hoped who ever found it would break it

It was around that time that she heard that same sound before, and saw two X-wing's fly over her, rather low to be just on patrol

"We found her! She's running and we've also located a Trandoshan, she's apparently chasing it," One of the two pilots’ said

~Hmmm.... there must be a reason~

"We can fire a volley in front of it"

~Are you confident you won't hit any buildings?~

"I can sir, it's like you said, there HAS to be a reason"

~She'll yell at me for giving you the order... you have permission to open fire, try and NOT hit any building's or Trandoshans~

"No other Trandoshan's on the ground, which is odd" the pilot said came about, as he flew down and aimed, he fired several blast's that struck the ground a few meter's in front of the Spirit and then flew directly over him and up into the sky, getting ready for another pass

…<O:p</O:p

Lavality snarled as the spirit got ahead of her, she finally stopped when she heard something land behind her and looked over her shoulder<O:p</O:p

“Damn..” she said and stared at the bounty hunter in front of her, then at the one on top of the building a rifle aimed at her<O:p</O:p

“Looks like we got a valuable prize,” The one on the ground snickered, rubbing his claw’s together and getting ready to take Lavality as his prize, and she couldn’t do anything to fight back

The spirit snarled at the X-wing that had shot at him. Deciding to make an example of him, he reached out with the Force and crumpled the X-wing as if it were paper. He released it then and proceeded into the Council of Elders building, not caring where the ruined ship landed...

***

Asri was getting sick of being thrown into walls.

I'm going to be a black and blue T'Doshok instead of white at this rate. She thought with a low frustrated growl after getting blown threw what had to have been the door to a walk in closet. Russis had fled the room the moment she had said it was a Force embued object, conviencing Asri he really was suited to this politican business: he had the lack of spine for it. As she untaggled herself from the debris of the ruined door she was starting to lose hope she'll be able to destroy the thing in time. Everytime she so much made a motion that would have damaged the skull she got a dose of Force push, sending her flying into walls and furniture alike. The chamber was barely reconizable now as a result.

As she finally struggled to her feet something shiny caught her eye. Actually a bunch of shiny things. In the blue tinted vision that was her night vision she made out the shapes of various weapons, mostly melee in nature but there were a few blaster types as well. This got her thinking. Every time she moved to destroy the skull, it repelled her, not the object she was going to use against it, and all those obects: chairs, pieces of wood or metal, etc, were fairly large and obviously a threat to it's well being. But what about something small?

As a test, she picked up a piece of debris that was no bigger then the palm of her hand and tossed it. She purposely missed the skull, the object landing a few feet to one side of it, but she got no reaction from the skull. Intriged, she picked up another small object, deciding to aim for the skull itself. This time she got blasted back into the weapons closet before the object even left her fingers.

Ok...need something small and with a damage radius... She thought, rubbing her side: she was sure she cracked a rib this time. Now she looked through the weapons room with purpose, hoping there was something she could use. She found a thermal detenator, but decided against it: she didn't want to end up leveling an entire wing of the building. It looked non functional anyway.

Then her blue eyes feel upon something just as deadly, but far less potent: a minture thermal detenator. The device was no bigger then a golf ball, but packed enough punch to clear a small room: it looked fully functional to boot. Now the question was: would the skull recognize it for what it was? If it did she'll likely end up just blowing herself up instead.

No choice. She thought: was that blaster fire outside or just her imagination? I am running out of time. She flicked the device on and prepared to throw....

***

The ground bound Bounty Hunter suddenly got a lance through his chest. He griped at the weapon futlely before his eyes rolled back into his head. The Hunter on the roof swung his rifle toward the new threat, only to have a knife mysteriously 'appear' in his throat, the blade had been from his partners own belt. He gagged and choked, the rifle slipping from his hands, before falling off the roof dead.

Silliss removed his lance from the first Hunter, smiling with satisfaction. Then he looked over with concern at Lavality. "Something tells me it wasn't these boozos that put you in your current state." He said.

The girl shook her head. "It was the spirit..." She said.

"What!?" Silliss cried with disbelief. "And you're still alive!?"

"Something caught his attention." Lavality explained. "He went into the Council of Elder's building."

"The skull....it has to be." Silliss grumbled. "Gods I hope someone is already there trying to nuke it....otherwise..." A rabidly growing shadow caught his attention. Looking up he saw the crumpled shape of what looked like an X-wing...and it was going to crash right on top of them! Moving quickly he rushed forward, grabbed Lavality and ducked into a nearby alleyway. The heat from the following explosion tickled his hide seconds after.

"Something tells me that was no blaster fire that took down that ship...." Silliss muttered.

Lavality snarled. "Looks like I'll be filling out a report when I get back," she tried to sigh but instead it just hurt like hell. "Thank you," she said

She looked over and saw what remained. "We need to get to the council building... oh... and what are you doing here? I thought you had a fleet to run? Not that I'm mad or anything.. your timely arrival saved my ass... but ... isn't it... odd?"

....

Tzhali snarled as they entered orbit, only to find three x-wing's flying through the atmosphere chasing a ship commonly used by bounty hunters. "Target that vessel and tractor it into the hanger"

"Yes sir"

Silliss chuckled. "You're mistaking me for my father, Vice Admiral Tiosk, Miss Lavality, though he would probably consider that a compliment." He said with a wink. "I was out helping in the search for the skull and if the spirit just beelined for the council building, we got no time to lose."

***

Just as Asri was about to throw the explosive, a small Trandoshan burst into the room. What the skrag is a kid doing here!? She thought as she let the device fly. She didn't notice the sword the 'kid' was carrying, nor comprehend the Jedi-like clothing he was wearing. All she cared about was getting the 'kid' out of there before he got blown to pieces.

Asri knew she had less then five seconds before the device went off as she burst forward toward the young male. The male regarded her at first with anger, then surprise and finally awe as she tackled him, sending them both tumbling out of the chambers just as the device went off. Asri felt the kiss of flames licking at her backside as she instinctively wrapped herself around the smaller Trandoshan, protecting him from the blast. Though the sound of the blast was loud in her ears, the unworldly scream was even louder, though she couldn't tell where it came from.

There was a ringing in her ears when it was over and she finally started to uncurl herself. It quickly passed however and she looked down at the young male she just rescued, a look that was a mix of scolding and concern. He looked strangely exhaused for some reason.

The realization of who this individual was slammed into her like a proton torpedo with the three words he managed to utter before losing consciousness.

***

The K'Satizitus by now was sick of the distractions and burst into the room without hesitation, fully intending to rip apart whoever it was that threatened it's continued existance. What he saw however caused, for the very first time in it's long existance, the spirit to pause in total shock.

The individual inside was a white scaled fully grown female Trandoshan. He could only stare at her, frozen in place, a look of awe on his 'borrowed' face. There were so many questions he wanted to ask her just then: how did she escape from being slaughtered or abandoned at birth like he had. How has she been treated in this day and age? Why was she here?

The answer dawned on him too late as the female tackled him just as some kind of explosive device went off. He felt a pain like he never felt before, the feeling of being literally ripped from one plane and thrown into another against his will. Before he could completely comprehend what had happened, he was smashed into oblivion by the Scorekeeper herself....

***

He was starting to go mad, he was sure if it. All around his consciousness he could feel the spirit, taunting him, laughing at him, imprisioning him. Trazu had done all he could to free himself and keep the spirit from harming those he loved. Now there was a sense of weariness that far transcended the physical sense, an exhaustion that mere sleep would not cure. He was starting to accept the likely hood he will never be free.

Then suddenly, the spirit was gone, ripped away as if sucked into a vaccum and total physical awareness came back to him like a tidal wave. Sight. Sound. Touch. Smell. It was overwhelming and he had nearly forgotten what those things had been like, yet he welcomed it all the same, even if some of it was less then pleasent.

There was the smell of lightly charred flesh. The feel and sound of another's breath upon his face. When he opened his own eyes for the first time he had no idea how long, he beheld two sapphire eyes framed by a white face. Then the physical exhaustion hit him and before he could truly comprehend his surroundings he felt consciousness start to slip away. It didn't matter anymore now though, as the spirit was gone. If he was to die here and now he would accept it graciously for he would be at peace.

Before the darkness reclaimed him he managed three little words that was all that needed to be send then and there. Afterward for the first time he dreamed...

***

Silliss and Lavality had just reached the hallway when the explosion went off, causing Silliss to shield Lavality with his body instinctively. When the smoke cleared they saw Asri on hovering over the form of Trazu, who was stirring. Filled with uncertainty, they rushed over to the pair, just intime to hear three words that were the best news they could have ever heard uttered from Trazu's lips.

"I am free."

Lavality smiled after hearing the words that came out of the Trandoshan's mouth, although he didn't know him. All she knew was that the spirit was finally gone, she looked at Silliss and smiled, for the first time since she started her journy, she actually smiled. "Catch me...." she managed to say before she passed out due to blood loss and intense pain

...

Tzhali's troops where already on the ground, a mixture of Trandoshan and Wookiee's skorwing the city, a medical team arrived at the council building, but they where Trandoshan's and had a right NOT to venture into the building.

...

The last x-wing in the group flew over and surveyed the area where his partner had gone down. "So long," he saluted, then flew upward and into the sky