Slaughter House Blues


You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone. ~ Al Capone

    "Deathstick?"
    Krius shook his head as he continued to walk.  HellKite shrugged and dumped the red contents of a plastic container into his glass of champagne.  Krius looked at the strange man and chuckled to himself.  How classy.  Here they are, wandering the streets and he's taking deathsticks with a formal alcohol, drinking it from a wine glass. HellKite gave Krius a funny look. 

    "What?" asked the pilot.  Krius answered with another shrug.  The two continued down the streets, walking past the crowds and mobs.  They were in crime central, underground Tatooine.  Everywhere around them were the shady characters.  Drug dealers, prostitutes, assassins, you name them.  Krius felt uncomfortable as he walked through the litter and beggars.  When HellKite said he was leaving for a business trip, Krius never expected that they would end up here.  The former boxer felt a bit at home though, it reminded him of his past.  Of course not by much, Krius hated drugs.  They were pathetic to him, something that shouldn't exist.  HellKite obviously had a different opinion on them. 

The man, hardly old enough to be a man, reached into his long black coat pocket.  HellKite was wearing a heavy winter coat, long with a hood.  The hood was furry inside, which stood out from the rest of the coat.  His hand came out of his pocket again, holding a stub of something that was wrapped around in paper.  Krius didn't notice as first, too concentrated on not tripping over the dead ragamuffins that littered the streets.  He soon caught a whiff of smoke and turned to his right quickly.  HellKite looked back at his company, putting his lighter back into his coat pocket.  He put the stub up to his mouth and inhaled.  Krius shrunk back a little.  "What is that?"

HellKite answered, not turning to face him.  "Spice.  Want any?"  Krius frowned and shook his head.

"No thanks.  How many substances do you take?  I never see you doing this back at the hangers."  HellKite chuckled and shrugged.
"I've experimented with many things.  Course, it's illegal to do them back where we come from.  At least I think."  The man dropped his wine glass, the glass breaking into pieces as it hit the floor.  The two walked on.  Krius was already starting to regret coming here; he was stuck with practically a stranger.  A stranger on narcotics too.  Well it was his fault anyway; he had bugged HellKite till he was allowed to come in the first place.  This wasn't what he expected though.  He had been bored, off duty for the vacations when he found HellKite leaving the door.  Casually striking up a conversation, he naturally asked where his fellow squadron member was going.  HellKite had answered "business trip" in a low voice, serious and dull as he usually was. 

"Business trip."  Krius muttered.  What kind of a business was here?  The guy probably smuggles drugs or something.  Just his luck.  He had imagined good food, nice hotels and some nice looking girls.  So much for all that, he thought.  Even when they got off the shuttle and took a step onto the Tatooine city, Krius still thought it was a formal affair.  But then, they walked further and further until they descended underground.  That was when Krius knew things were wrong.  Now he was in some place where he could get robbed any second.  No food, no hotel, no good-looking girls and lots of criminals.

The large screen flashed commercials of liquor as heavy death metal music poured outside from a club.  Occasionally, they would pass by someone who looked nice.  Krius would wave to them only to be met with growls.  The night sky made it difficult to see eventually.  The two stopped in an alleyway and turned into it.  Krius followed HellKite's lead, ready to pummel anyone who would leap out at him.  HellKite stopped in the middle of the narrow path and opened a door, stepping inside.  Krius followed, stepping into darkness.  The huge room flashed random colors, music playing loud enough to make the floor shake.  The vibrations went through Krius's body.  A club?

HellKite walked over to the bar taking a seat.  Krius sat next to him.  "What are we doing here?" he asked.  Hellkite looked around and finally answered.

"You stay here and party.  I'm going."  With that, he got up and went for the exit.  Krius glared.  He got ditched, just like that.  HellKite wasn't going to lose him that fast.  Krius waited until HellKite closed the door until he got up and creeped after him.  He stepped back into the streets, leaving the noise behind.  The pilot ran after the shaded figure that resembled HellKite.  The two slipped away into the night's silence.



-----------------------
"Where there is hell, flames follow."


"Let the wings of death cast a shadow on all your hopes."

EFM/CRW/HellKite/Kaph 1-4/Phoenix Wing/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE

     HellKite walked slowly down the shaded streets.  He took a long inhale and then exhaled slowly, sending a trail of icy white air.  He closed his eyes and went on, knowing exactly where he was going.  Suddenly, he felt a bump.  The former pirate opened his eyes to find a boy in front of him.  He was small, 12 at most.  The boy brushed the dirt of his clothes.  "Sorry," he apologized before quickly breaking into a run.  HellKite tripped him quickly, shaking his head.  Before the boy could get up, HellKite grabbed his Annihilator Blaster Pistol, firing a warning shot  into the back of the boy's head.  The small child fell limp, a smoldering hole on the back of his head and at the forehead.  Blood slowly leaked onto the pavement, whitish liquid coming out as well.  Melted internal organs, HellKite had assumed.  He shrugged, bent down and grabbed back his wallet which was cleverly hidden inside the boy's sleeve.  The pilot went back to walking ahead.  He hated thieves.

__________

    Krius woke up in the man's arms.  Ug& Can this be any more awkward?  He frowned, and shifted.  The man looked down at him, Krius quickly shutting his eyes in response, playing dead.  Satisfied with the reaction, the man continued walking.  Suddenly, the man fell forward, tripping over something.  Krius hopped out of his grasp, backing up.  "Got ya!"  The man got up without answering, causing Krius to stop with the taunts.  The pilot cursed and ran forward, away from the monster-like figure.

    He stopped finally in a main street, out of breath.  Looking back, he found no one.  "Must've lost him."  Krius shrugged and looked around, catching a glimpse of Hellkite as he turned the street.  Cheering inside that he finally found his partner, he ran after Hellkite, slowing to creeping as he got closer to the man.  He continued like that for what seemed like hours.  Where was he going?

    Finally, they stopped at a huge building.  Hellkite walked through, the doors automatically opened and closed behind him.  Krius waited a while before going in as well.  He hid behind the nearest pillar as he watched Hellkite.

___________

    Hellkite looked around the building as he walked forward.  The upper parts of the walls were lined with cadavers, dead bodies of all different species.  Everything from Gungans to Rodians were there.  The massive pillars that gave the building a temple like look had dead bodies chained to their top as well.  Each body bore an injury, mostly slashes and stabs.  What a sick bastard. . . thought Hellkite as he walked.  He finally approached a throne like chair, a tall figure sitting there, male twi'lek guards stood next to them.  A few slave girls were at the figures feet and even sitting, the figure was tall.  HellKite stopped in his path and took a look at the figure, half-clad in arena armor, it's cloak covered the seat of the throne.  It's right foot was bent as it rested on the seat of the throne, it's left leg was still on, standing upright from the ground.  The room smelled of a stench of carcasses and glitterstem.  HellKite took a deep breath as he watched the figure open it's large blue eyes, a color considered lowly in it's original culture.  Not that the figure before cared about culture.  The figure smirked and chuckled.  A name trailed out of Hellkite's mouth.  "Gajru Fen, Former Champion of Swordfighting."

    The Kaminoan chuckled again.  Finally, it stood up, taking 2.5 meters.  "Garuuuuda Translyvon," it spoke in a deep voice as it smirked.  "Is that how you greeet an old friend, hm?"  HellKite's face was dead serious.

    "I wouldn't consider you a friend, scum.  Now what do you want for her?"

    The Kaminoan shook his head.  "Tsk tsk, Business so soon?  You haven't changed Translyvon.  Lighten up."

    "And how am I supposed to do that when my cousin's in the possession as a hostage of a sick madman?"

    The Kaminoan broke into a laugh.  It trailed it's hand down a sword on by the throne.  It was a phrik alloy blade, coated with a thing layer of cortosis, finely made, a true masterpiece.  "The way I see it. . .  in either of our possessions, she'd be in the possession of a sick madman.  You have the nerve to call me sick?  If my memory serves me right, who was nicknamed HellKite for your relentlessness?"

    "Quit the small talk," HellKite said as he interrupted quickly, obviously angry.  "Your ransom, now!  Before I cut you into half and just take her."

    "Bah!  You know quite well what I am capable of doing to you if you try.  That is, if you get past my security.  So be a good boy and cooperate."  The Kaminoan grinned, knowing he had HellKite in check.  He strolled around.  Finally, he spoke again.  "Two billion credits."

    "What?!  That's ridiculous!"

    "You want your cousin right?  Get me two billion IC s by tommorow night.  Else, she joins them." With that, he pointed upwards at the dead bodies on the walls.  Hellkite frowned, knowing he could do nothing to change the alien's decision. 

    "Fine!  But if you kill her, just know you're the next to die."  HellKite growled at the Kaminoan as he walked away.  The Kaminoan responded with a sly smile.  After HellKite left, he signaled his guards. 

    "Get the boy hiding behind the pillars."
____________

    Krius' eyes widened.  "Huh?"  He backed away as the guards rushed at him, only to bump into a pair of Massifs.  Krius cursed as he heard a metal clang.  A cloud of gas suddenly filled his vision and he passed out.

 
-----------------------
"Where there is hell, flames follow."


"Let the wings of death cast a shadow on all your hopes."

EFM/CRW/HellKite/Kaph 1-4/Phoenix Wing/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE

    ((OOC: thanks Shaz.  I'll get a longer post up tommorow, after I come up with the rest of the plot for this story.  The details anyways.))


The guards lugged the unconscious body into the back room quickly.  Gajru sat on his throne and hummed softly.  The money was just too easy to get these days.  That was something the Kaminoan disliked about the world.  There was never a challenge anymore.  Sometimes, when he shut his eyes, he could still remember it all.  The feeling, the adrenaline, the thrill.  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

    The audience cheered as the shackled Kaminoan entered the arena, clad in a worn out, scarred armor.  The guards next to him unshackled him and shoved him forward.  On the other side of the arena, a rancor trudged out, it's heavy arms dragged along the floor.  Gajru shook his head.  What a brute he was to face.  But the Kaminoan had gotten used to it by now, he had been a slaved gladiator for years now and he both enjoyed and hated every second of it.  The beast roared, the monstrous thundering voice echoed along the walls of the arena.  Taking it as a sign to get ready, Gajru unsheathed a stubby blade, stained with rust.  The beast rushed forward, hungry for meat and on the opposite end, Gajru rushed forward, hungry for blood. 

    Minutes later, the audience stopped making noises.  The crowd fell silent.  The beast fell with a loud thud, Gajru standing victoriously above the ugly creature, his blade lodged in the back of the creature's head.  Gajru closed his eyes, another triumph.  He was going to have good food tonight.

    "Ah, the life."  The Kaminoan chuckled when he was interrupted by a servant girl.  She held a plate of strange looking food.  "Finally, it was about time."  Gajru picked up one of the morsels with two fingers and dropped it in his mouth.  As he did, he checked the time.  The clock started counting.  He hoped he could count on Garuda to get the money.

______

    HellKite tossed his deathstick out, looking around energyless.  He had about lost all hope.  How would he get such a huge amount of money in such a small amount of time?  The man sighed and slammed his head on the bar counter, closing his eyes as he did.  God, was life terrible.  The music played on, frustrating HellKite even more.  Eventually, the young adult lost it, raising his head up to yell at the band when he stopped and noticed someone.  Curious, he crept out of his seat and wandered towards the shadowy figure next to the dancing girls.



 
-----------------------
"Where there is hell, flames follow."


"Let the wings of death cast a shadow on all your hopes."

EFM/CRW/HellKite/Kaph 1-4/Phoenix Wing/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE

Tally tally tally
 
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WADJ, SPAC/1LT Corran "Arturus" Hargraves/SCR Doashim/VE/VEN/(=A=)(=SA=)(=*MA*=)(=JCPA=)(=SCPA=)[MC:1](x2)[SV][BRC][VC:B][CBV][LSM][LoC][BWC][SWC][GWC]


"The way of war is a way of deception. When able, feign inability; when deploying troops, appear not to be. When near, appear far; when far, appear near. Lure with bait; strike with chaos. If the enemy is full, be prepared. If strong, avoid him. If he is angry, disconcert him. If he is weak, stir him to pride. If he is relaxed, harry him; if his men are harmonious, split them. Attack where he is unprepared; appear where you are unexpected. This is victory in warfare; it cannot be divulged in advance. Victory belongs to the side that scores most in the temple calculations before battle. Most spells victory; least spells defeat; none, surer defeat. I see it in this way, and the outcome is apparent." -- Sun Tzu

"Ultimate excellence lies not in winning every battle but in defeating the enemy without ever fighting." -- Sun Tzu