Sha'ta'lusk was getting antsy....


And Shalis was getting nervous. Her worst fears were soon confirmed when she heard the Sha'ta'lusk begin to move around the other side of the cargo bay, apparently inspecting the cargo. If it came to her area.....


She heard the ship whine, as if it were coming out of hyperspace. There was soon a louder crashing sound as Sha'ta'lusk knocked one of the crates off of it's pile and it splintered to pieces on the floor. Shalis cautiously rose and peered over the pile of crates separating her from the monster. She could just barely glimpse the sight of the creature curiously poking at a golden bipedal protocol droid on the floor. Apparently it had been in the now busted crate....


Sha'ta'lusk poked the droid's head, and suddenly it's golden eyes lit up and it sat up.


"OH MY!" exclaimed the droid as it came face to face with the creature poking at it, and the droid threw it's arms up in the air. Instead of promptly goring the droid, the Sha'ta'lusk surprised Shalis by curiously reaching out and grabbing the droid, and making it's arm move up and down. It was as if he could sense that the droid was not a living creature, and could not figure out why it was acting like it was alive.


The floor suddenly began to rumble as the ship's repuslorlifts kicked on, and Sha'ta'lusk abruptly turned it's attention away from the droid, startled by the sudden new sensation.... unfortunately, it's gaze landed right on Shalis.


It recognized her... she had tried to kill it!


Sha'ta'lusk roared, and bounded after Shalis, stomping the ship's cargo in it's way to pieces as it charged. Shalis cursed loudly, and darted for cover. Looked about things were about to get real ugly, unless the ship landed and she could escape out of the hold....

He heard the laughter through the doors and the livened mood brought a grin to his face. Quickly rinsing out his mouth and remaking his salad in record time he came out of the kitchen.

And not just simply, "came out".

He came out with flair, exaggerating his motions.



And as he was showing off he immediately saw the datapad in Leia's hands.


Something's afoot.


She turned to him. "Tyscio, would you mind making your meal to go? I just remembered I've got a big shipment coming in today that I've been waiting on for some time, and I really want to be there on time to pick it up...."


Something big?


He stood there for a moment totally dumbfounded.

Tyscio opened his mouth to reply, but Leia flashed an evilly charming smile and rose from her seat.

"Come on, you might find this interesting...."

He went back to the kitchen and rummaged to find a self-chilling bowl to place his salad in and walked back out munching.

The Padawans would not like him very much when they went back to the kitchen.

Oh well, will teach them a bit of self control and humility, he waxed philosophically.

He stepped right up to Leia and grinned through salad leafs.

"After you..." he motioned with a fork, his curiosity beginning to well up inside him.

He'd rarely seen her so excited.

The hair on the back of Silus' neck rose. He'd heard that roar before, before that creature charged him.

It must have followed me, his lip curled at the thought, Kill it. Kill it now. Kill it now! Make it hurt! KILL IT!

Rage filled him as he grabbed his lightsaber and headed to the cargo hold. Silus pushed people out of his way, barely noticing them. A few shouted curses after him, but that didn't matter. A voice kept repeating in his head.

Kill it, hurt it, make it bleed! Destroy it! The voice urged him on, until by the time he reached the cargo hold he was running. His lightsaber turned on with a hiss, red blade lighting the area around him.

The cargo hold was a mess. Here and there crates had been tipped over and searched, their items thrown across the floor. Here and there were parts for speeders, spices tossed aside, even a protocol droid. And in the corner was the same creature Silus had fought on Bpfassh. He charged it before it noticed him, knocking it into the wall in spite of it's size. It recovered quickly, slicing at Silus with it's arm. He rolled under it and came up with a slash across the beast's face. It roared and struck out, sending Silus into a nearby wall.

It was only moments before members of the ships crew came to investigate, blasters in hand. A few stared in stunned surprise before firing. It roared, dodging out of the way of blaster shots and then charged the group. They only lasted moments before it's claws ripped them apart.

Silus ran forward to attack, when the ship sent him into a nearby wall. He struck it hard, stars flashing across his vision. There was another war, higher than the others, as if the thing was in pain. Silus flung himself aside, which didn't help his head, as it charged past. He turned his head in time to see the thing leave through the large doors in the back of the cargo bay, used for unloading. A man gave a shout before his life was ended, and it disappeared out of sight.

So, he thought, we've landed.

Leia had recently taken to walking just about everywhere she needed to go, however the main spaceport of Theed was located on the outskirts of the city, to cut down on general pollution. They would have to take a speeder...

Leia led the way around to the back of the Academy, to a large garage attached to the rear of the Academy. Leia keyed open the door and it slid aside to reveal a speeder, as well as a few speeder bikes in various sorts of disrepair, that the Padawans tinkered with in their spare time.

"We can take the Academy speeder, the Padawans usually take it out for joy rides and I never use it, but hey, I was the one who paid for it."

Tyscio was occupied with eating his salad, so Leia slipped into the driver's seat and started up the speeder.

"I promise we won't crash like last time I was driving...." Leia remarked dryly as Tyscio took a seat next to her, and then they were off....

It was only a 15 minute drive or so, but Leia's unusually unharnessed anxiety made the trip seem like a thousand years. Fortunately, she had the pleasant company of Tyscio to keep her distracted (not from driving!)...

Soon enough the expanses of the spaceport came into sight, and the dull roar of a large transport ship that was landing on one of the outdoor landing pads filled the air. Leia found herself grateful that at least so far until this point Tyscio had refrained from inquiring about what exactly what was so important about the shipment they had come to recieve. She hoped he wouldn't bring it up now.... he would see soon enough, anyways.

Leia parked the speeder in the designated lot, and they hopped out of the vehicle. Leia pointed to the large transport that had just landed.

"There's our ship, so I guess that's where we're going...."

They had only taken a dozen or so steps in the ship's direction when a disturbance in the Force slammed into Leia like a durasteel wall, and both Tyscio and Leia saw the dark, limp outline of a body being flung out of the ship's cargo bay. There was an ear splitting roar, and a shiny golden protocol droid scurried down the cargo bay ramp with its arms flailing in the air, repeatedly exclaiming "oh my, oh my!!"

Leia stopped dead in her tracks, and the golden protocol droid spotted her and started in their direction, his exclamations now changing to that of "oh thank the maker!!!".

But Leia's attention was fixed on what sounded like a war being waged in the cargo bay of the transport ship.

"...what the frell?"

Shalis had managed to dive out of the way of the Sha'ta'lusk's charge, and the creature had barreled dumbly right into a wall.

Both hunter and creature were bracing themselves for another go at each other when suddenly a madman clad in black and wielding a glowing red sword burst into the hold, and charged the Sha'ta'lusk with a ferocity that Shalis had never before seen in any living creature. The man slammed into the creature with enough force to send it flying back into the same wall it had crashed into only moments before. Whoever this new man was, Shalis considered him a momentary ally against a common enemy...

A new element of chaos abruptly entered the scenario as angry red blaster bolts began flying in every direction. A few bolts found their mark on Sha'ta'lusk, but they only served to make the beast angry.... moments later the offending ship's crewmen were dead, defenseless against the might of Sha'ta'lusk. The hold was now back down to three combatants; a manageable number, Shalis thought.

The ship lurched violently as it touched ground, and sent all three combatants tumbling around the hold. One man who had managed to avoid the Sha'ta'lusk thus far frantically reached out and slammed his fist on the cargo bay door controls before the Sha'ta'lusk spotted him and snatched him away. A whine sounded as the doors and sunlight filled the cargo bay.... Sha'ta'lusk hurled the dead man out of the door, and turned it's attention back to the injured man with the glowing sword.

Seeing her chance, Shalis sprung out of the corner she had taken cover in and flung herself at the Sha'ta'lusk. She drove a spiked gauntlet into it's chest, to no avail. The creature growled in irritation and tried to rip Shalis open with it's claws. However, Shalis' armor had been designed specifically with the Sha'ta'lusk in mind, and it's claws merely screeched loudly across her armored breastplate. In her peripheral vision Shalis saw the golden protocol droid scurry down the ramp and off of the ship, flailing its arms and voicing some sort of exclamation. But she had more important things to worry about, other than fugitive prissy protocol droids.

Even with the crazy man and his glowing rod, Shalis knew that they were no match for Sha'ta'lusk....

Leia led the way around to the back of the Academy, to a large garage attached to the rear of the Academy. She keyed open the door and it slid aside to reveal a speeder, as well as a few speeder bikes in various sorts of disrepair, that the Padawans tinkered with in their spare time.


Do these Padawans ever go on dates?


"We can take the Academy speeder, the Padawans usually take it out for joy rides and I never use it, but hey, I was the one who paid for it."


Tyscio raised an eyebrow at that but kept munching. Leia slipped into the driver's seat and started up the speeder.

"I promise we won't crash like last time I was driving...." Leia remarked dryly and Tyscio briefly reflected on any insurance coverage he might have, and they were off....

The drive was pleasant and Tyscio took the time to look at the strands of Leia's hair blowing against the onrush of wind.

Soon enough the expanses of the spaceport came into sight, and the dull roar of a large transport ship that was landing on one of the outdoor landing pads filled the air. The speeder was parked in the designated lot, and they hopped out of the vehicle. Leia pointed to the large transport that had just landed.

"There's our ship, so I guess that's where we're going...."

They had only taken a dozen or so steps in the ship's direction when a disturbance in the Force slammed into Leia like a durasteel wall, and both Tyscio and Leia saw the dark, limp outline of a body being flung out of the ship's cargo bay. There was an ear splitting roar, and a shiny golden protocol droid scurried down the cargo bay ramp with its arms flailing in the air, repeatedly exclaiming "oh my, oh my!!"

Tyscio stopped munching and he turned to eye Leia to see if this was expected. Leia stopped dead in her tracks and so he figured no.

A golden protocol droid spotted her and started in their direction, his exclamations now changing to that of "oh thank the maker!!!".

Leia's attention was fixed on what sounded like a war being waged in the cargo bay of the transport ship.

"...what the frell?"


Tyscio quickly pushed a little button and a cover slid over the salad. He looked like he was holding a silver ball as he turned to Leia before breaking over into a trot to see what was going on.

His look conveyed worry at what was going on. Concern for the body that was thrown. And a "what the frell" all rolled into one.


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It took only a moment to pull himself up and reactivate his lightsaber. Shaking his head to clear his vision, Silus watched while something in a heavy suit of armor tried to attack the creature. A stab to the chest that might have killed lesser creatures seemed only to anger the beast.

So, he had an ally, and one that wasn't easily torn apart by the creature. Not waiting for whatever that creature was to finish it's attack on the armored figure, Silus charged in with a downward slash across it's back and rolled under the inevitable counterattack. Standing up again, he faced the creature, circling it before rushing forward with another attack. The thing dodged out of the way in an instant, following through with a slash the knocked Silus back a few paces and out of the Cargo hold.

Briefly, he noticed two people standing there watching and security teams rushing forward to find out what was going on. Instead, his attention was on the beast charging at him. Silus prepared to roll out of the way of it's attack when the thing leaped over him with a howl and crashed into the ground behind him.

Silus watched in wonder while the thing pulled itself up on four legs and began sniffing the air. Odd, it had done the same thing on Bpfassh before it... thrusting it's head into the air, the beast let out a howl that sent shivers up the Sith's spine. That was when it turned to the two figures and charged.

Leia and Tyscio watched as an odd and rather vicious looking creature bounded down the ramp of the cargo bay and then paused to sniff the air.

"What is that...!? I've never...."

Leia's sentence was cut off as the creature turned to look in their direction, let out a bone chilling howl, and charged in their direction in none too pleasant a manner.

"oh my!" Exclaimed the golden protocol droid, "oh my!"

Leia took a few unconscious steps backwards as the potential severity of the situation began to hit her. "I think now is an opportune time to.... run!"

Tyscio apparently agreed, and so they were off. The only real cover within a reasonable running distance was the ship itself, but unfortunately the creature stood in between them and the ship. They were trapped in the open, with nowhere to go.

Leia glanced at Tyscio.

"...now what?"

Leia reached behind her back for her saber, and Tyscio opened his salad container and looked into it contemplatively. He pulled out a sizeable vegetable, and then turned and threw it at the creature's head.

Coincidentally the creature had just opened it's mouth to assumedly roar again, and the vegetable flew into it's mouth and lodged in it's throat.

The creature skidded to a halt as it began choking on the vegetable, and Leia and Tyscio scurried past it to the ship. A man and a heavily armored... thing were jogging down the cargo bay ramp, and soon Tyscio and Leia had reached them.

The creature had finally dislodged the offending vegetable from it's throat, and had turned it's attention back towards Leia and Tyscio. But Leia wasn't paying it any heed, an odd sensation coming from the man in front of her through the Force had caught her attention.

The lightsaber in Leia's hand suddenly flashed to life, and she pointed the brilliant purple blade at Silus.

"Sith!" She spat fiercely, "what is this... this.... thing you have set loose on us?"

Odd. That was the only way Silus could describe it. The woman almost reminded him of someone, but when he tried to remember it was like looking through a thick fog. Any more effort to try to place a name to the face made the fog grow thicker, almost darker. With a sigh, Silus pushed all thoughts of memory aside. There were much more important matters to deal with. Namely, the large creature charging towards them.

Silus hissed, red blade knocking purple aside as he rushed passed her. Inside his head the voice pushed him forward, promises of death and pain to the creature fueling the Sith's rage. Anything in his path was quickly destroyed. The only thing that mattered was destroying the thing in front of him.

Seeing Silus too late, the thing attempted to dodge. Silus cursed as his blade went through one of the beast's thick legs and it crashed into him, sending them both rolling. His lightsaber was knocked free of his hand and sent spinning out of reach. Howling in pain, the thing knocked him aside just as easily and began running away as if it hadn't been wounded at all. The voice shouted curses at the retreating beast while Silus stumbled after it. Damn it, it was too fast! Silus tripped over his own lightsaber just as the thing disappeared out of sight as it retreated from the spaceport. Damn it!

His face still on the ground, Silus attempted to calm himself. He'd fought it before, and from the blind rage it was sent into whenever it was near a force-user, it wasn't going to stay away for long. No, he would have his chance to kill it, yet. This was only a momentary setback. Still, Silus snarled when he pulled himself to his feet.

He turned his attention back to the ship, and suddenly realized what that woman had been holding that he had batted aside. Purple blade meant lightsaber, and lightsaber meant Jedi. Perhaps if he ran now, he could... three blaster barrels greeted his face when he turned. The Sith threw back his head and laughed. So much for avoiding attention.

****

Once he was back in the ship, Silus didn't have any time to answer any questions or voice a few of his own before he was greeted by a full-armed slap. Perhaps it had been too much to hope for that Jaida wouldn't have noticed the cargo hold.

"You! You bastard, I should have left you on Bpfassh!" She slapped him again, on the opposite side of the face. Surely she knew he was a Sith, by now. He resisted the urge to check if his jaw was still there.

Now that he could see the cargo hold without worrying about something ripping him apart, he could see that it was in much more of a mess than he thought. Indeed, there was only a few crates that had actually survived the fight without getting destroyed or tipped over. Everywhere spices and other foodstuffs, ship parts, some things Silus had never seen before were thrown about. How he could breathe without sneezing with all the spice in the air was a mystery.

Jaida slapped him again, for good measure he supposed, before moving to stand behind the Jedi. Silus sighed. It wasn't completely his fault, but he guessed he was the closest person at hand that she could blame. Still, did she really need to slap him?

Looking at the Jedi, he almost could remember a face before the fog swept over it stronger than before. Well, whoever she was, she seemed to be the authority with the guards behind him. Which presented a very large problem.

"I think now is an opportune time to.... run!"


Tyscio had been thinking the exact same thing. However, a problem presented itself.


Run where?


They were off but the question soon caught up as the creature was between them and the only real source of protection.

But didn't the creature come from the ship?

Tyscio couldn't be sure as he really wasn't paying attention but the bloody animal just didn't spring up from the landing pad.


"...now what?"

He could see Leia reaching for her saber and he began to eye the beast wondering if the woman next to him knew what kind of animal it was.

Still, with time winding down for their inevitable confrontation, his eyes soon fell to the metal bowl in his hand.

Flipping up the lid he noted the piece of cucumber moved over to the side. A vegetable that snuck it's way into his salad. A vegetable that Tyscio could not stand and therefore would not miss it's loss.

Coming to a decision, he plucked the offending piece from his bowl and began to trot toward the creature with Leia following.

The beast roared and Tyscio lauched.


His aim was spot on!


As the creature gagged on the cucumber, Leia and Tyscio ran past it towards the ship and he began to feel a sudden strange twitch in his perceptions. A feeling he had not come across since...


Klain?


They were running towards a man and, quite suddenly, Leia's saber activated surprising her partner.


"Sith!" She spat fiercely, "what is this... this.... thing you have set loose on us?"


Tyscio looked from Leia to the stranger and for the second time in as many minutes the thought occurred to him:

What the frell?



The man activated a saber of his own batting Leia's away and Tyscio almost dropped his salad.


He eyed carefully the battle between the "Sith" and the creature. It ended in a draw as the Sith was on the ground and the creature running off into the spaceport.


That was when one other person emerged from the craft and several security personnel running towards them pulling out weapons to secure the fallen Sith.


**

On board, Tyscio remained behind the entourage casting his eyes about the mess in the ship.

A woman was slapping the captured Sith but Tyscio could detect no real emotional reaction to her outcries. Only the faint presence of mild annoyance and some confusion.

Tyscio could empathize with the man as his eyes began to water from the spices swirling around the ship's atmosphere.

He moved a step back in search of cleaner air, keeping his ears open as he went back to his salad.


Now untainted by cucumber.