The Return Home
D'har Leth arrived on the hard durasteel of his homeworld, in the Corellian Sector of Nar Shaddaa. He was there for leave. He wasn't there for any particular reason, but had nothing else to do. Opting to go alone, even after some of his friends had offered to come along, he stepped off the transport. The transport had actually come from Coruscant, as no ships from Tadath had business on the wretched hive of scum and villainy that was Nar Shaddaa.
Business on Nal Hutta's moon wasn't something the trooper had either, figuring that he could find something to do once there. He decided to see if anything could be bought that wouldn't normally be available. After signaling an airtaxi, he entered and told the Devaronian driver to head towards New Vertica.
After paying the driver, D'har left for the slums. After walking for 15 minutes, he was greeted with a memory that was unsavory at best. A feeling of dread, not terror, but a creeping sense of something bad to come. He took a closer look at his surroundings and realized exactly where he was. Here was where he pushed that kid. It seemed like so long ago. The feelings that assaulted him suddenly vanished, and he was now faced with another feeling, this one was a feeling of worry. It lasted only a few seconds, but it seemed like a lifetime. His brain suddenly released a sound that he felt throughout his whole body, a sickening crunch.
The memory left and D'har looked around. The bustling crowds of people moved past him, occasionally shooting him odd looks, as if they wondered why he wasn't shuffling along with the rest of them. The trooper left the spot and continued on his way. Arriving at another spot and feeling a similar sense of dread, he again looked up and saw a crumbling tenement building. D'har felt compelled to go inside the building.
Upon entering the building, the Twi Lek at the desk not noticing as D'har walked toward the elevator and entered. A long forgotten part of his memory awakened as he instinctively pushed the button for the 18th floor. The doors slid closed and the elevator proceeded upward. After the doors opened, he stepped out and once again acted automatically, walking to apartment F. He knocked on the door and got no answer, but he knocked again. This time he got an answer, "Get away! I told you that I'll have the money next week." "I haven't come for your money, I used to live here and I decided to drop in." The sound of footsteps came closer and the door unlocked.
A rather tall, rugged looking human thug appeared at the doorway. "I don't trust you, I'm not letting you in. I'll kill you if you come any closer." D'har seemed a bit doubtful.
"I don't think you'd kill me."
"Why wouldn't I, I have before. I got this house about 2 years ago when me and a friend came in here, robbed the place, and killed the owner."
"Is that, is it, true?" D'har queried.
"It is, the old bastard seemed like he had it coming."
With that D'har's fist flew toward the man's face. It connected, and with the familiar, albeit lessened sound of a sickening crunch. The man reeled backward in pain. Before the thug could react, D'har reached into his pocket and pulled out his DC-15s and aimed it right at the thug's head.
The thug looked at the vengeful D'har, eyes wide with terror. "Please, I don't want to die." His prayers went unanswered as the grim-faced Stormtrooper pulled the trigger and walked away.
D'har quickly left the building, though he felt almost nothing at all, no remorse, yet, he didn't feel vindicated either, he just felt nothingness. He left the way he came, completely calm. Down the elevator, through the lobby past the Twi Lek who still payed him no heed. After leaving the tenement building, the murderous trooper continued on his way, this time knowing exactly where he was going. He walked only a short while, descended an escalator, and arrived on the hardened rock that made the pseudo-floor of the New Vertica.
He stepped through the doorway, which still had a non-functioning door keeping the way half-closed. He sat in the chair that lay in front of a desk with some papers scattered around it. Let's see, licenses(fake, of course) for ships, handwritten notes, not much else. D'har leaned back and began to remember.
His heart quickened as he raced across the platform, his friends right behind him, the rich noble they had just pickpocketed slowly losing them. They ran down the escalator and ran inside the doorway with the half-closed door. They sat down, knowing they had finally escaped the victim of their robbery. "Hah, we made it!" said Lokai, an abnormally tall Zabrak boy, about 15 years of age. D'har spoke up, through a bit of panting, "Yeah, we really did, I guess."
D'har was jerked out of this pleasant memory by a familiar, albeit deeper voice. "Who the hell are you, and what are you doing in- wait. D'har, is that you?"
"Yeah, it's me Lokai, it's good to see you again."
"So, what are you doing here?"
"Oh, nothing in particular. I'm on vacation."
"Hmm that's nice, you know, after you disappeared, I figured I'd never see you again. I was wondering, if you thought that maybe I, no we should join the resistance."
"Wait, you mean against the Empire-"
"Yeah, exactly."
"I can't do that, I'm with the Empire"
Lokai looked completely taken aback. "Wait, you can't be serious!"
"I am serious Lokai."
"Well then you can get the hell out!"
D'har leaned back further, considering what his old friend had said.
"I said get the hell out!" Lokai shouted as he violently grabbed D'har by the collar and shoved him into the wall. The trooper reacted with even more force, breaking his now ex-friend's jaw with a solid right hook. D'har kicked Lokai in the head, once that happened the Zabrak slumped to the ground, out cold.
D'har took off like he had so many times in the past. He had no idea where to do now. he decided that he might as well go back to the apartment.
The trooper that now seemed like he belonged nowhere walked again through the door to the tenement building. This time however, the Twi Lek looked up. "Alright, you walked out that door a little while ago, why are you already back, I've never seen you here before, so who the hell are you?"
"Who I am isn't important, all you need to know is that you can leave me alone."
"Alright, just wondering, you're really touchy. You might wanna work on that."
D'har made a rude gesture at the Twi Lek as he stepped into the elevator. He rose to the 18th floor and proceeded to the apartment. He almost stepped on the corpse of his father's murderer. D'har hauled the body over to the window, propped it up, and promptly kicked it out. Shrieks rang out from below, so D'har shut the window.
D'har sat on the couch that was once his bed and slowly rifted to sleep. His dreams took him off to faraway lands, through caves with bizarre carvings, and vast, intricate systems of tombs. He drifted through these locations, not really taking note of where he was, or what he was doing. As his minds drifted deeper into the tombs, he heard his father's last words. "D'har, you're home." The words echoed through him as he came to a massive gate to whatever lay beyond the tomb. He could feel the excitement building, waiting for the gate to open and all its secrets to be unleashed. The gate was ready to open as the dreaming trooper was yanked out of the tomb and back to the apartment by the sound of a door being smashed open.
"Alright, where the hell is the Fitan's money?" A bulky, rough looking Zabrak finally kicked the door down and stormed into the apartment.
D'har looked up at the Zabrak and spoke very calmly. "The person you're looking here has gone away and will not be returning."
"Well who the hell are you?"
D'har still spoke calmly despite the increasing gravity of the situation. "I am a Stormtrooper and if you don't leave now, I'll kill you where you stand." D'har was lying, of course, as there was no sense committing two murders in one day and the Zabrak hadn't really done anything to deserve death.
The Zabrak almost sensed D'har's attempted deception. "I don't think so!" said the Zabrak as he lurched toward D'har. The trooper moved to block the Zabrak's fist, however just as the fist was going to connect with D'har's arm, the Zabrak slammed his knee straight into D'har's gut. D'har stumbled backward. He was not expecting that. Just as it seemed that someone would eventually emerge victorious over the trooper, D'har did something rather unexpected, producing an XV-7 Vibrobayonet from his boot. He rushed forward and put the blade to the Zabrak's throat. A victorious look came over D'har's face as he said, "Well I guess I'll just have to kill you." D'har quickly pulled the vibrobayonet away from the thug's throat and bashed the hilt into the Zabrak's temporal. Oh well, no real harm done, I'll be gone before he wakes up.
D'har exited the apartment and moved to the elevator. He reached the lobby. This time instead of the Twi Lek at the front desk, it was a human female. D'har gazed across the room at her, as she hadn't seen him yet. Her straight black hair extending to her shoulders, her pale complexion lighting up the otherwise bleak, dark room. She finally realized she was being watched as she looked up from the computer screen. Those blue eyes.
The young woman gazed back at the trooper. "D'har? Is that you?"
"Xandra. You're as beautiful as you were when I left."
"Where the hell did you go, we were out for your birthday, and then you were gone."
"I'll explain later, it's a really long story."
"Well are you staying here, because now I'm ready to leave, I hate this place, this job pays almost nothing."
"Xandra, come with me to Tadath, maybe you could join us."
"Join you, what do you mean?"
D'har looked up as he was struck with a brilliant idea. "I mean join us in the Stormtrooper Corps, they were the only option I had when I left this place, and if you have nothing to do and nowhere to go, it would be great. You'd have food, a place to stay, and we could be together again."
"I don't know what to say, I mean-"
Xandra's response was cut short by a sound emanating from D'har's pocket that didn't have a gun in it. The trooper picked up the holotransciever. It was Slick. "Sorry to interrupt D'har, but we're shipping out for Devaron in a week and we need to prepare, so your leave of absence is officially cut short."
Xandra continued her sentence. "I mean, well, I'll think about it."
"Well, I'll wait for you on Tadath"
"Goodbye." said Xandra, but D'har was already heading out the door.
"Goodbye." D'har said under his breath.
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Private First Class D'har Leth
-=Wraith Squad=-
TRP/PFC D'har/4SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/VEA/VE/