He snarled and looked away

Lavality nodded. "As much as I don't trust it. Perhaps he might have something useful, a clue would be nice." she said to Trazu and Asri. "And besides, even though I have a mental image of WHO it might be, I can't bring myself to consider the fact that HE is still alive"

"He's dead..." Maskis said. "There's no doubt about it, myself and Fikan SAW him, he was as dead as dead can be." he folded his arms. "unless it's a clone or something, there's really no way he can still be alive"

"Clones have been made before remember?" Lavality said, recalling the tales she had read of Rogue Squadron and some of there deeds and about one mission where the squadron had to elimanant a clone. "Anyway, head to the spaceport and check on our pilot, if it's ok with Trazu and Asri, I'd like to go with them to see this 'Tuezo'" she said

“That would be the best thing to do.” Trazu said, nodding in agreement. “Your pilot doesn’t yet know he’s going to have at least three more passengers anyway, so it would be ideal to let the guy know ahead of time.”

Once Maskis left, Trazu led Asri and Lavality down to the holding cells. A couple of things worried him about this face to face ‘meeting’ with the Tuezo. He wasn’t quite sure, but it seemed it did use it’s powers to trick Lavality somewhat during the initial encounter, thus Trazu hoped that since she now had her memories back, she had a strong enough will to keep it from influencing her again. Asri was the other concern: this will be the first time she have seen this creature and he had told her the Tuezo was the one that figured out her darkest secret. At the time she didn’t say much about it, though what she did say was with a tone of bitterness. He just hoped she didn’t try to kill the thing outright.

It looked to be asleep when they arrived at it’s cell, all curled up as it was in the corner. Almost immediately though it’s head rose, three feeler like appendances peeling away from the top and sides of it’s head. They waved about almost hypnotically for a moment before flattening back against it’s head. No longer clouded by rage, Trazu could take in the appearance of the Tuezo more clearly.

It’s overall body shape was similar to a lizard, especially it’s head, though it had no tail. The limbs were long and thin looking, but Trazu could sense the strength in them so the frail look didn’t work on him. It’s back was covered with hair, black as it’s hide and course looking. The head was the most interesting thing about it in Trazu’s opinion: in addition to those feelers it displayed a moment ago it had three pairs of eyes and when it yawned he could see it only had four, but very sharp, teeth and it’s tongue looked like it served as straw.

“Leeks liko semo frem u herrer mevio.” He heard Asri comment beside him and silently agreed with her. He had seen many odd races in this galaxy and this one took the cake in his book.

“Alright.” Trazu said. “Lets go from the top. Tell us what you know.”

The Tuezo bobbed it’s head in a nod and basically repeated everything it had told them. To Trazu’s slight annoyance, the Force showed it was telling the truth. He looked at Lavality and her nod confirmed that she got he same conclusion.

“Alright. You will come with us, but any trickery, any attempt at using your abilities against us in any form and your life is forfeit. And don’t believe for a moment you’ll be going scott-free after this mission is over with: you still have a trail to face.”

“I doubt any trail will come.” The Tuezo said. “I heard that they are reluctant to try me since they know so little about my kind. They fear it won’t be fair…”

Damn that creature and it’s mind reading abilities, for again he detected nothing but truth from it. It could make a mint in dealing in information gathering services instead of assassination. “If the Nabooian judiciary won’t try you, the Jedi Council surely will.” Trazu said, consider that it did attempt to take the life of one of their padawans.

“Very well. I hope appropriate food will be available on the trip…” It said.

“We’ll arrange for enough animal blood to be put onboard.” He saw the Tuezo’s look of disgust and quickly added. “Live with it or starve.” He growled. “If you are that desperate, you can feast on one of your employers henchmen when we find him.”

“Better then nothing…I suppose” It grumbled.

“We will come get you when we are about to leave.” Trazu said. “And not a moment before.” Trazu was not keen on letting the thing roam around while they prepared for the journey. To the others, he said. “Let’s go. We got a lot of things to do and little time to do it…”

Lavality stared at the creature for a few more seconds before turning to follow Trazu. She hadn't seen the creature before but apperently the spirit had and it wasn't talking much, in fact, it hadn't talked much since Asri woke up

Whats wrong?

......

Your very quiet...

Thats because I'm thinking...somethign just isn't right about this whole situation

What do you mean?

The spirit remained quiet for the rest of the time, Lavlaity knew that something was obviously bothering it but didn't know what to say. She returned to her room and packed up some more things, not much, just a change of clothing, her blaster, and her lightsabre, which she stared at for a long time still wondering if she was worthy of using it. Master Fraktusu is a great teacher, but I wonder if I'm truely ready to use this..... she said with a slight confusion in her eyes.

She clicked the sabre onto her utility belt and picked up her backpack, she had left a letter to Master Fraktusu requesting that he come along, but she hadn't heard a word in return so she was wondering if he was very busy

After checking to make sure she had everything she decided to head to the shuttle and get everything stored. It was a standard Lamdba Shuttle; standard, as in, it wasn't modified with missile launchers like the Serendive version was

She boarded the shuttle and checked there storage, out of the corner of her eye she spotted two other trandoshans clad in black armor, she pulled her blaster but it got knocked aside. The first one grabbed her by the arm and tossed her toward the other side of the storage room. The other one moved to close the ramp, when Lavality tried to use her force abilities, however, she discovered she couldn't use them. Ok.. this is bad..

She jumped backward and landed on top of the crate, against her better judgement she took out her lightsabre and took a position, both trandoshans glanced at the other, it was then, when there shoulders where to her's, that she realized who they where

"Slavers..." she said with a snarl. She lunged forward but a sonic blast from one of there rifles forced her into a crate and knocking her out briefly, before blacking out she asked herself. Can't I go a day WITHOUT dealing with bounty hunters?!

"You sure you want to go?" Trazu asked Asri as they picked up a few things. "You're still recovering after all."

"Where you go...I go." Asri said, as she slipped on a set of tight fitting clothing, causing Trazu to stare at her for a moment until she put on a set of normal cloths over that.

"Very well...just try not to overdo yourself ok?" Trazu said as he clipped both his saber and his normal sword to his belt. He then slipped on the blue grey cloak from his 'mock Jedi' outfit over a causal set of pants and shirt.

"I won't, don't worry." Asri said with a smile. "I just wish I had my K'Zur. They were still on your sister's ship when she...took off."

"Not a easy weapon to get a replacement for these days either. Hopefully sis didn't do anything with them."

"If she did I'll have her head...or at least make her pay for a new pair." She smiled as a devious thought came to mind. "She's going to be 'so' happy when she finds out you and I are a 'couple' now."

Trazu chuckled. "She'll likely be speechless for some time. Are you ready?" She nodded. "Let's go. Lavality is likely already heading for the starport and we still need to pick up the Tuezo."

The Tuezo was all too happy to get out of that cell and made a show of stretching quite graciously before Trazu had enough and forced it to get moving. Halfway to the starport, Trazu sensed something was wrong. "Something's happening...." He said as he took off in a dash, Asri right behind him. They were both surprised when the Tuezo overtook them and beat them to the starport...

***

It was easy to find which dock Lavality had headed to, by briefly reading the starport workers minds. Security was another matter, but he quickly 'convinced' them that he was allowed here, which he was anyway so it wasn't like he was lying.

Normally he wouldn't have bothered being so hasty in coming to someone's aid, especially someone who was not so long ago he was supposed to kill. But he had a hunch that he could get a free meal out of this 'good deed' and he wasn't about to pass that chance up. When he reached the right dock, he heard the ships engines going: it was going to take off with out them! He focused on the pilot and once he gained access to his mind, 'convinced' them to stop the engines and open the hatch.

Vaalm dashed in to see one of the Trandoshans approaching the cockpit to see why the pilot stopped the take off. He saw Vaalm and aimed his weapon at him, but Vaalm was quicker, using his pysonic abilities to throw him into the wall. The second Trandoshan charged him from another room, welding a stun baton: Vaalm gave him the same treatment as the first, whom was starting to get to his feet.

The Tuezo felt the stun wave hit him in the rear, but it wasn't made to take out someone as strong willed as a Tuezo. Vaalm retalulated by kicking back with one of his hind feet, sending the Trandoshan back into the wall, this time rendering him unconscious. With only one threat left that he could sense, he calmly walked over to the second Trandoshan.

"Wh...What are you?" The Trandoshan said, unnerved by his abilities and strength.

Vaalm smiled and said: "Your worse nightmare...."

He forced the Trandoshan to his feet, secured him with his strong forearms, then bite down on his neck and started feeding....

****

The unconscious Trandoshan was just waking up when Trazu and Asri finally arrived and saw the scene. Trazu knew immediately that these were slavers and while the Tuezo was 'taking care' of the other slaver, he focused his attention on the remaining one.

"Where is Lavality and Maskis?" He demanded.

"I won't answer to a kid." The slaver spat. "Especially one that associates himself with an Akisi."

Asri looked like she was about to rip his throat out but Trazu held out his arm to keep her back. Instead he called upon the Force to lift the male off the ground and bang his head against the ceiling a couple of times, not hard enough to knock him out however. "You will answer me...or I'll let the Tuezo find out for us by ripping it out of your head before having him feed on you like he is doing with your buddy." He hissed.

It was then the Tuezo apparently 'finished' his meal and dropped the now lifeless body of the second slaver. "Storage room...one of the crates. That's where Lavality is." It said. "No information on where Maskis is with this one though. Perhaps....you know?" It narrowed it's eyes at the remaining slaver.

"I'll go see if she's alright." Asri said as she headed for the storage room while they waited for the slaver to answer...before the Tuezo or Trazu made him answer.

Lavality blinked several times, her head moving from side to side as she remained conciousness. The first thing she noted was that she was inside a crate and missing her light sabre, she noted that she had some sort of brace on her legs and arms, mostly due to the fact that her hands where tied behind her. I should've let Trazu and Asri come WITH me.... she said. If it wasn't for the mask that was across her face she would've yelled out but considering that it was, she couldn't... all she could do was wait.... oh how she wanted to get to the bottom of these damn hunters and get there employer

The slaver glanced at both the Tuezo and Trazu, snarling in the process. "Fine... found that girl here alone with that pilot, as for this 'maskis' person last I saw he was heading away from to the shuttle to do his bussiness somewhere..." the slaver blinked and looked both ways again

***

Maskis was just coming out of the room when he saw several security guards rushing toward the shuttle. "Oh no...."

"So this was a capture of opportunity then." Trazu sneered to which the slaver nodded. "Very well then, but before I release you to the authorities...A little education is in order." He set him down on the ground, but still held him in place with the Force. "Our people are no longer in the business of slavery."

"What!?" The slaver hissed in surprise. "Speaker-Above-All Hyssok would never allow that to..."

"Hyssok is dead." Trazu snarled. "He killed himself while attempting to kill the other Councilors in a bid to hold sole power over our people. We now have an allegance with the Wookiees and ended our long running bloodfeud. This was all done for our long term survival as our galaxy is becoming more and more dangerous and with the New Order growing as it is, it would have been only a matter of time before they came to us and made us slaves...or simply wiped us from the face of the galaxy."

Trazu looked at the entrance ramp to see a couple of Nabooian security officers board. They aimed their guns at the Tuezo, who hissed, but Trazu held up a hand to stay them both. "That one is with me." He said. "This one however..." He glared at the slaver. "Is charged with attempted kidnapping. The victim should be coming up at any moment...."

***

Oh this is going to take a while... Asri thought as she looked at the storage room, seeing numerous crates. She could be in any number of these.

Knowing standing here wasn't going to get the job done any faster, she started checking the crates. Fortunately she got lucky and heard something, or someone, stuggling inside one of them and she ripped the lid off easily.

"Welcome back to the land of light." Asri said as she removed the mask from Lavality's face. After pulling her out of the crate she worked off the leg brace and the bounds on her hands. "There." She said after the girl was free again. "Must feel a lot better I bet. Trazu has one of the slavers pinned if you want to slap him around a bit. The other one was kind of...eaten...by the Tuezo."

Lavality rubbed her wrists and grabbed a blaster from the old, the look on her face could melt battleship armor. She walked out of the storage room and toward the slaver, who glanced at her, but the look on his face made him cower in fear

She aimed her blaster at him and just stared, for five long minutes she fought between firing off her weapon... and letting him go... knowing that firing the weapon would lead her toward the one path she refused to take, she finally lowered her weapon and gestured to the security guards. "Get him out of my sight... before I change my mind.." she said and walked toward the cockpit

It was at that point did Maskis come up the ramp. "What happened?" he said and glanced at the slaver, only to duck when he heard a blaster shot, the shot missed his head by a mere frachion of an itch, he glanced at the shooter and noticed it was Lavality, who didn't look like she was in a good mood.

Trazu used the Force to force the slaver into the security guards waiting arms, where they quickly handcuffed him. While they were leading the slaver away (and removing the body of the second slaver), Trazu addressed Maskis. "While you were 'busy', those two slavers had a go at kidnapping Lavality see about cashing in on the bounty." He said. "The Tuezo here..."

"Vaalm." It said. "I am called Vaalm."

"Whatever. He had ran ahead and 'secured the scene' you could say until Asri and I were able to catch up." He glared at the Tuezo. "I'd rather he hadn't run ahead...who knows what you could have done instead of rescuing Lavality."

"If I hadn't gotten here first, the ship would have taken off before you got here." Vaalm said. "I had to force the pilot mentally to halt the takeoff and open the hatch."

Trazu grumbled, being forced to admit that everyone owed this creature now. If it hadn't ran ahead those slavers would have gotten away and Lavality would have likely been lost to them forever. He hated to think out the Fleet would have reacted to that news.

"So where were you all this time Maskis?" Trazu said, folding his arms and glaring at him.

"Is that bathroom soap I smell on you?" Asri commented, who had gotten close to him. With a mischievous grin she asked. "Had a case of the runs did we? I told you to watch what you eat."

Maskis looked away, a slight bit of redness on his face appeared. "You expected me to stay here and stink up the shuttle?" he said and turned around. "Even a Trando has to go sometime you know"

He was about to walk into the cockpit, but the blaster shot on the bulkhead kinda remind him of what might happen, it was obvious to him that she wasn't in a very good mood. "Think I'll go check on our supplys" with that he left for the storage room.

Asri giggled as Maskis walked off, while Trazu simply sighed and shook his head. “Let’s get the ramp up to ensure no one else decides to attempt a crack at us.” He said.

“Wish you hadn’t turned that man in.” Vaalm said. “I could have used him as a snack during the trip.”

“He may have been a low life Vaalm…” Trazu said with a slight sneer. “But even low life deserve a fair trial. Many governments in this galaxy don’t care much for vigilante justice, the only exception is when you are defending yourself or someone else.”

Vaalm frowned, what what felt was a frown. “Where I come from, there are governments often employed my kind to ’weed out’ the less desirable and to hunt down criminal elements.” Vaalm said. “A Tuezo’s haven, provided it is not already claimed by another.”

“Territorial?” Asri inquired.

“Not really, we just know the local area wouldn’t be able to handle more then one of us. It’s rare for us to encounter another of our kind anyway.”

“Must make it hard to find a mate…”

“Mate? We don’t need one…we’re asexual.”

Asri made a face. “Where’s the fun in that?”

“Alright enough of this.” Trazu said, tiring of the conversation. “We need to prepare for take off.”

Final preparations were made and it wasn’t long before they were in hyperspace. Knowing it was a long trip to Nar Shadda, everyone opted to get as much rest as possible before arriving: no one had any idea what kind of welcome they may get from the Hutts. If they were lucky, the Hutts won’t even bother them, but you never knew what they may do. Maskis and Lavality each took a cabin, while Asri and Trazu shared one: the Tuezo was content to sleep in the storage room.

“You sure we are not moving too fast?” Trazu asked as the pair climbed into the bed: it had been her idea to share the cabin. “I mean, it took TZosha to propose to me before I even considered this…”

“You lived a much more simpler life back then and could afford to take your time.” Asri said softly. “With things as they are, who knows what fate or the Force will throw at us. I want to experience as much as possible with you before the enviable time when fate separates us.”

“A rather pessimistic way of looking at things….”

“I prefer to see as preparing for the worse and hoping for the best.” The albino said with a shrug.

Trazu shrugged in turn and made himself comfortable. In truth he was glad to be able to snuggle up against someone again: since Tzosha’s death it never quite felt right when he went to bed. The bed itself was made for only a single occupant, but in this case Trazu’s small size was an asset and he could easily share the bed with Asri almost no matter what size the bed was. This would be even better if this was a proper Trandoshan nest, but beggars can’t be choosers….

“Trazu?”

“Yeah?” Trazu had already been nearly asleep when called to him.

“Don’t you find it a bit ironic?”

“Find what ironic?”

“You, my love. You told me before that you had no desire to be a leader, yet recently you showed admirable leadership skills.”

He grunted, feeling a little uncomfortable. “Leading a small group such as this is nothing compared to taking charge of a Clan full of hundreds of people Asri.”

“I disagree. You need the same skills no matter what size of the group. The only difference is remembering the scope. You’ll be a great Sha’tor when you take your father’s place in the future.”

If only I could believe you… He thought.