Tasha woke up in the medical bay feeling like she’d been struck down by a herd of nerfs. Slowly, she recalled the events that put her there. “Bentre Stahoes!” That name brought a foul taste as it rolled off her tongue. She remembered the fight and how she cut off his repulsive hand. “I hope he learned well, that I won’t fall without a fight.” Reaching up, she stroked her poor lekku. Thanks to the doctor’s healing capabilities there was no scarring from the stab wound. As she gazed at the dark tapestry lining the outer edge of the room, Tasha saw a familiar man. His dark hair and brown eyes seemed to show a slight compassion towards her. “My apprentice, you fought well and I’ll be damned if I don’t let that bastard get away with hurting you. He will face revenge in some form.”
Tasha smiled wryly. “I am sorry for my failure at beating him, Master Marcus. I wanted to teach him a lesson about underestimating his opponent; though before I blacked out, He was taught that I’m no pushover.”
Marcus laughed. “I am sure he will think twice before fighting you again, apprentice.”
Tasha leaped off the side of the medical table and stretched her body. Though she still felt sore, she wanted to read up on more hand-to-hand combat techniques before the night was over.
“I also came over to congratulate you Tasha on a job well done. You have met all the requirements and have gone over and beyond my expectations when you were a guardian. You are now a Jedi Hunter.”
Tasha beamed. “Thank you, Master Marcus! I always strive to excel above and beyond my initial training.”
“Now, I think you had better take a little break before diving into your intense training regiment. I will give you a day off to recuperate, but nothing more, there is much to be done.”
“I am surprised that I’m even allowed time off, Master Marcus.” She mused while flipping her lekku back behind her head.
“You are lucky that I’m being gracious, now hurry back to your room before I change my mind.” Marcus threatened.
“I will see you later Master Marcus.” Tasha laughed as she ran out of the medical bay and down towards her room. After a few turns and sprinting down many hallways, she arrived to her familiar room. Opening the door, she spotted the hand-to-hand combat techniques book on the nightstand beside the left of the bed. While humming to herself, Tasha ambled over to the opposite side of the room where her dresser was located and changed into her bedclothes. After changing, she bounded towards the nightstand, grabbed the book, and plopped down onto the silk sheets of her bed. She then turned on the small lamp above her bed and began reading about disarming opponents.
“I will learn how to fight better Bentre, and then you will see that I can best you.” She thought as she continued to read. “Just you wait.” She kept reading, but suddenly felt drowsy. Her eyes became heavy as the book slipped out of her hands and fell gently into her lap. In a matter of minutes, Tasha was fast asleep and entered the world of dreams.
In this dream, Tasha noticed many people gathered in a hall cheering about her new rank. Some were from her house: Marka Ragnos, yet there were also others from different houses. It was quite a celebration. Happy melodic notes filled the air and people raised their wine glasses toasting in her honor. She felt quite happy that is, until a dark figure arrived. The entire crowd fell silent as the shadowed being approached. The once bustling crowd parted as he made his way towards Tasha. She could not spot any discernible marks that would identify this phantom. He kept getting closer with each step and grew in size. Soon he was over seven feet and loomed over Tasha. Stretching out his bony right hand, the phantom pointed a creepy black finger towards her.
“Fight me or fail.” It hissed, the voice sounding ethereal as it echoed through the entire hallway. For once, Tasha sensed terror welling within her. She desperately wanted to move, but her feet seemed trapped like they were glued to the floor. Her mouth became dry and parched. “What monster could instill such fear like this? Why can’t I move?!” She grappled for her saber and lit up the crimson blade with a snapping hiss. The scarlet light cast a demonic glow upon the phantom figure making it appear even more terrifying to gaze upon. Shivering at the sight, Tasha tried focusing her mind as the phantom sauntered towards her. She managed to shake off her initial fear, levitated one of the dishes from the table with her mind, and chucked it at the dark figure. While the dish was hurtling towards the phantom, Tasha charged the target and swiped her blade across the figure’s side. An azure blade blocked Tasha’s blade from piercing this black phantom. Using both her hands, Tasha swung again trying to arc her blade diagonally. The sabers crashed against each other lighting up in a brilliant display of reddish blue upon the combatant’s faces.
Relentless, Tasha kept going lashing her blade up, down, side, and back trying to find an opening, but every time this phantom deflected her strikes. The phantom appeared to match her blow for blow each time she struck out. She observed his swings as he parried her blade and noticed a pattern. Whenever she struck, he could block it effectively. Quickly, she pivoted to the side and bluffed her next attack by bringing her blade down and attempted to buffet the Phantom’s head. Again, the phantom brought his blade upwards to shield himself, however his sides were now unprotected. Swiftly, Tasha turned her blade to the side, and brought it across the exposed left side of the phantom. It shrieked horribly as the blade sliced through the dark figure, ripping it in half. Wisps of black smoke permeated the air as the Phantom began disintegrating before her eyes. “Next time worm-head.” It yelled out before vanishing in a plume of black soot.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Tasha’s alarm clock sounded off. Groaning, Tasha reached out and silenced the alarm as she sat up. “What a weird dream,” She yawned and stretched her arms out while she looked at the clock. She sighed. “Time to get up and practice.” Slowly, Tasha dragged herself from the warm blankets and stepped onto the freezing floor. “Ack! Cold, cold, cold!” She replied loudly as she tiptoed to her dresser. Tasha then quickly dressed herself and marched over to the nightstand. She clipped the armory lightsaber to her left side, put her blaster in the right side holster, and grabbed her echani blade. She hooked the blade to her belt and stepped out of her room and into the long hallway. “Let’s get this day going with a brisk warm-up round of war droids.”
As she came down the hallway corridor, She was greeted by Anima. “I have a mission for you, assassin. There is a man I need killed and unfortunately I have other matters to deal with right now. The datapad here has all the info you need, take it and complete this mission.” He quickly handed her a datapad and took off again before she could say anything. “Well this day just got interesting.” She looked over the datapad. The target was Mayzer Hoyle, a man that has been dealing in the affairs of the brotherhood a little too much. He had blond hair, blue eyes, stood about 1.8 meters with a scar on his right cheek. He was last seen boarding a shuttle to Tatooine with some important documents about our current squadron and the red fury events. The current intelligence has reason to believe that he is going to hand over these documents to a republic correspondent. He must be eliminated along with securing the documents. Coordinates to his whereabouts will be dispatched to this datalog upon reaching Tatooine. Good Luck, Assassin.”
Tasha smiled a bit. “Tatooine, huh well least I will enjoy the weather. Nice and hot. But first I need to get myself ready.” Tasha returned her room and changed clothes to fit Tatooine’s harsh weather. She wore a short sleeved brown tunic and pants with a brown cloak to help hide her blaster and blades. She then put on some brown boots and headed out for the docking bay where her small starship was staying. She sat down in the brown leather seat, punched in Tatooine’s coordinates and started up the console in front of her.
“Tasha’Vel to docking bay seven, do I have clearance for take off?” She spoke into the communication device above her. One of the docking bay officers answered. “All clear Tasha’Vel, the doors are opening now.” She looked up as the large bay doors opened up revealing the star-ridden sky. It had been awhile since she last gazed at the stars. “Beautiful as always.” When the doors were fully open, Tasha worked the console and let the ship fly upwards into space. As she rose higher, she tucked the landing gear inside the ship and punched in auto-pilot to Tatooine. The engines rumbled as the small ship went into hyperdrive and flew through space. As she approached Tatooine, her holo emitter lit up. It was Galleros. “Tasha’Vel blow that shuttle out of the sky, I want those documents destroyed.”
Tasha smiled. “Well this just got fun.” After a few hours, she dropped out of hyperspace and spotted the shuttle getting closer to Tatooine. It was a small grey shuttle probably carrying around thirty passengers. She took the plane out of autopilot and aimed her sights at the small transport unit. She locked on with her two torpedoes. “See you in hell, Hoyle.” She fired the torpedoes at the shuttle and sprayed bolts of hot plasma into its sides. Tasha squinted as the shuttle erupted with flames on both sides just as the torpedoes impacted, blowing a giant hole through the structure. Now it was nothing more than a large mass of hot shrapnel flying as the shuttle exploded. As the shuttle finished tearing apart, Tasha messaged Galleros with the holo emitter. “Mission accomplished boss, the shuttle has been reduced to metallic bits.” Turning the emitter off for the moment, She glanced down at the datalog to check the mission, but to her horror the datapad lit up with more information. “Hoyle has landed and is in the Mos Eisley Spaceport getting checked in and heading to a nearby cantina called Fortuna’s Cove. Coordinates to the inn have been delivered.”
“Damn it, I just blew up the wrong shuttle.” Tasha winced and reluctantly turned the holo emitter on to transmit again. “Galleros, we are going to have to wait on the celebration. I accidentally shot down the wrong shuttle. Hoyle has landed on Tatooine. I am going in, Tasha out.”
She maneuvered her starship back towards the planet and prepared for landing. Leaning back in her chair, Tasha set the ship on autopilot again as she put her hands to her head, taking in the recent events. Her heart felt heavy as she realized that thirty innocent passengers had met their end. She then remembered what her grandfather told her.
“Sometimes you screw things up, and the perfect plan you had doesn’t always go right, Tasha. There have been events in my life I have regretted and probably always will. But remember you have to move on and accept what has been done and try to become better. You cannot change the past, but you can change the future my sweet Tasha. Always keep going.”
She blinked back a couple tears running down her face and steadied herself. “Well grandfather, I have done something that I do regret, but you are right I must move forward. This mission must be completed. I cannot allow the republic scum to get their grubby hands on our squadron’s plans.”
The ship was in position to land at the Mos Eisley Spaceport. Tasha then contacted the spaceport. “Is it cleared for landing?” She asked waiting for a response.
“Starship 142 you are cleared for landing in docking bay forty proceed with landing.”
“Thank you”
Tasha took back the controls and descended towards the planet.Opening up the landing gears again, Tasha lowered the ship carefully into the docking bay. The area was clear enough that she had no trouble getting the craft landed. A soft bump rattling in her cockpit told her the craft was on the ground. She powered down her ship and adjusted her cloak to hide most of her face. “Now to work some magic.” She grinned and pulled a small mirror. She glanced at it, watching her emerald eyes turn a nice shade of violet and her jawline shifting a little to become more pronounced. “Assassin’s work is never dull.” She then closed the mirror, and unlatched the craft doors to hop out into the docking bay. As she looked out, there were a couple mouse droids running about and a larger R2 series droid working on hooking some sort of cables up to a machine. Tasha climbed out and dropped to the ground, while locking up her ship. “Can’t have anyone stealing my ride.” She thought to herself.
Making her way to the door, she was greeted by one of the docking bay workers. It was a short stout rodian in typical worker clothes. “How long are you going to be staying?” He inquired.
“I will be staying, oh, maybe a couple days. If it’s payment you are looking for I have the credits.”
“That would be why I am here.” She handed over the amount needed to cover her days. “Enjoy your stay miss.” He chirped happily as he bounded off towards more ships docked.
Tasha strolled out towards the main opening to the city. There were all sorts of humans and aliens bustling about their daily errands. She could see several shops open with creatures and people selling various things such as: Trinkets, clothes, droids, food, and even speeder parts. As she kept walking, a nearby news broadcast came on.
“Tragedy strikes the hearts of many beloved here on Tatooine today. A local shuttle carrying thirty passengers aboard was suddenly blown up. Many do not know who the culprit was, but it is being investigated currently by local authorities. Many suspect foul play to be involved. I am here right now with the shuttle owner Mavis Kaydrel. Tell me Mavis what are your plans currently with this sudden loss?”
Mavis looked out towards the camera with what looked like tears in his eyes. “My heart is heavy and my condolences to all of the families who lost their loved ones. Rest assured that all who lost their loved ones are being sent a small donation of credits for their loss. Also I will not rest till I find the scum who decided that targeting innocent people was some sort of sport. You hear me scum! I will find you and justice will be brought to your head!”
Tasha saw pure hatred in his eyes and could almost feel the rage bleeding off him. The newscaster came back on. “Thank you Mavis and now back to you, Drake.”
Tasha kept silent, knowing that now she must find Hoyle quickly before the authorities and Mavis figure out she was still lurking about Tatooine. Quickly, she began jogging towards Fortuna’s Cove. From the coordinates, it wasn’t very far from the local shops. She made a couple turns down some housing blocks and past a few more local shops before she stood at the entrance to Fortuna’s Cove. It sported a neon colored sign on the front picturing some drinks and a scantily clad twi’lek female dancing. As she stepped inside the bar, the sheer smell of the place stung her nostrils. It reeked of spice sticks mixed with bantha blasters and Tatooine sunburns. She eyed several tables with various mixes of aliens and humans sitting, standing, dancing, drinking, and talking. Tasha gracefully sauntered up to the bar. A human male with brown hair and eyes looked up at her.
“Can I get you anything, miss?” He asked nonchalantly.
“ Actually I am looking for someone and wondered if you could tell me where he might be staying?”
“I know many people and aliens here miss, but I don’t just give away info for free. I still have to make a living.” He replied while grabbing one of the glasses and began cleaning it.
“All right then, I will give you fifty credits for a name and location. Can you tell me where I can find a man named Mayzer Hoyle?” Tasha inquired. “I was just stopping by here to give him a visit.” She then slipped the barkeeper fifty credits.
“Mayzer Hoyle, that name does ring a bell. He actually came here not too long ago and reserved a room. He would be found in room 476. Upstairs, kid.”
“Thank you very much, I hope that you can get many more customers here.” Tasha smiled sweetly.
“I do too.” he answered as he collected her credits up and dropped them into his pockets.
She turned away from the bar and headed up the set of stairs from across the room. As she made her way to the stairs, she was bumped by some red haired blue skinned alien. Sensing that he was trying to grab at her wallet, Tasha instinctively grabbed his hand and crushed it menacingly. Her violet eyes blazed into his as she turned to him. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” She replied to the now terrified looking alien as she let go of his hand. He backed off while mumbling pathetic apologies and vanished from her sight. “Some creatures are pathetic.” Tasha grumbled under her breath as she continued up the stairs.
Upon reaching the top, she followed the blue carpeted hallway past several rooms to room 476. As she got closer, she crept slowly,silencing her heavy footsteps from before. The room itself was found quite a ways down from the stairs and out from the open area of the bar, She studied the door a bit, seeing it was sealed by key card. She knew it would be loud, if she were to force the door open. Quietly, she placed her head against the door while listening intently and heard the sounds of muffled talking inside.Hoyle was definitely inside along with what could be some company.
“Well, here goes nothing.” She knocked on the door.
“Who is it?” replied a gruff man’s voice.
“Twa’li sir, I was sent up here by the barkeep with some complimentary drinks.” She answered back in the most sweet angelic sounding voice she could muster. Soon the door unlock and opened. It was Hoyle.
“Where are the drinks?” He inquired.
In one swift motion, Tasha placed herself in the doorway while grabbing Hoyle’s outstretched hand and twisted it as she pulled her lightsaber up to his throat, threatening to ignite the blade against the soft skin.
“One move, Hoyle and it’s all over.” She replied coldly as her sweet demeanor now took on a more sinister tone. Stepping inside, Tasha spotted the second person. It was some duros that wore a republic insignia on the side of his tunic. The duros, who was standing to the right behind a bookcase, pulled a blaster.
“What’s the meaning of this Twi’lek.”
“You shoot at me, then Hoyle dies. Now Hoyle hand over the documents now!” She yelled as she concentrated her mind to pick up a small book from the bookcase behind the duros. Tasha quickly slammed the book as hard as she could muster to the back of the alien’s head. He fell forward and collapsed to the ground in a dazed stupor. Tasha then kicked Hoyle onto the couch to the left of her as she shut the door.
“I have no time Hoyle, the documents right now.” She stated again as she sheathed her lightsaber. Taking her blaster in her left hand, Tasha swiftly shot the duros in the head a few times before aiming the gun at Hoyle, while shooting a poisonous glare at him. Hoyle stumbled a bit, terror in his eyes as he frantically ran behind the desk in front of Tasha. Scrambling, he pulled out a file and quickly stretched it out to her.
“These are the documents I was carrying, here take them.” Tasha grabbed the documents in her right hand and looked them over. They were the red fury operation detailing the sapphire squadron and the Dark Brotherhood’s plans.
“That is all I need, Thank you Hoyle.” She grinned just as an alarm sounded. Hoyle laughed as he tried to bolt for the door. “Have fun with the authorities, Twi’lek!”
Tasha emptied her blaster into Hoyle’s body as he came at her. He screamed horrifically as the hot laser bolts struck him in the sides and shoulders.
“Your luck just ran out, Hoyle.” She sent a final bolt into his head, killing him as she exited the room.
Tasha could already hear several footsteps heading her way above the screams coming from the bar below her. There were several Tatooine authorities coming inside the cantina. She dashed down the stairs, quickly holstered her blaster, and held onto the document file in her right hand, as she leaped over the railing near the end that was close to the exit. As she hit the ground, one of the human authorities grabbed her right arm with the file.
“Stop Twi’lek!” He yelled gripping at her arm.
Using his arm, her left arm and full body strength, Tasha grabbed the man’s arm that was holding onto her and flipped him onto a nearby table, breaking it while she tore free from his grasp. Thankfully, she was still holding onto the precious documents.They were a little bent, but still in good shape. Knowing the others were closing in, Tasha continued running, holding the documents close to her and began dodging the other three authorities that had arrived amidst the panicked patrons. She tried to blend with the masses of people exiting the building.
“Stop Twi’lek!” Shouted the three authorities as they pulled out their blasters and gave chase. Tasha sprinted out of the building and onto the dusty hot streets of Tatooine. Green bolts whizzed above her head and one narrowly hit her right shoulder as she began to zig zag her way through the streets towards the docking bay. She made it past a few blocks, and used the buildings to help cover her from the flying blaster bolts trying hit her. She tried to shake their pursuit, but they were still hot on her trail. Finally, she made it to the docking bay and proceeded to race towards her ship. Panting, she could feel herself beginning to tire from running, but with her adrenaline high, she kept on pushing till she reached her ship. She quickly unlatched the cockpit door and leaped in placing the documents behind her chair while she closed the cockpit door. Frantically, she started up the controls, and let the ship come to life. Outside, she saw more of the authorities trying to blast the ship’s windshield. Luckily, her windshield was blaster proof, which caused the bolts to ricochet off the windshield and fly towards the authorities outside. Wasting no time, Tasha rapidly pushed the right panel button in front of her to stow away the landing gear, while tipping the throttle back to push herself higher towards space. It was going to be tight maneuvering as she noticed the bay doors started closing up above her. While she punched the thrusters, Tasha narrowly scraped past the doors, and rose hastily into the sky leaving behind the blaster friendly authorities. As she looked out, the twin suns had already started setting, as she continued advancing to the stars above. Soon she was in space again and breathed a sigh of relief as she turned the holo emitter back on. “Galleros, my mission is complete.See you back home.” She turned the emitter off again and she punched in the auto-pilot for the Antei system. After leaving a good distance from the planet, the craft went into hyper drive once more, throwing Tasha back against her chair as she made her way back towards home.