StarDestroyer.Net BBS

F.fic no7 - Inspired by "Secret Wars", The characters are the IP of their original creators (Steven Erikson, Genddy Tartovsky, George Lucas, Nintendo, Dan simmons, Capcom, Marvel [Stan Lee], etc')

Hope you enjoy it, this'll be my first Decently sized fic


Prologue:

A tall and dark tower looms, and within its interior there is a pit.

Within this pit lurks a shadow, one great and terrible, as it dwells and broods upon its gargantuan throne.

With a wave of a shadowy Appendage it summons a mirror of flame & crushed rubies caped with the tears of an orphaned babe.

Leaning forwards it begins to examine the events that flash upon the mirrors surface.

First it sees its primordial battle against the 3 Sky fathers (Odin, Ra & Vishnu) over 66 million years ago.

It growls at its defeat and grins as a fragment of it escapes towards an unsuspecting blue-green orb then ruled by the cold-blooded.

It's peruses the sight of its growth, healing, eventual resurrection and eventual defeat at the hands of the Accursed Emperor and The Sword.

It shows a foul near-concave grin at the sight of its return at the time of the eclipse, the view of the capturing and degradement of the (Former) Emperor, the burning of his kingdom and the slaughter of all that tried to resist.

It winces at the sight of the Emperor's son, The Samurai coming with an inch of destroying it permanently with The Sword and the desperate gambit that had saved it – Tossing its Foe through time to the Future that It ruled and had shaped in its Glorious image.

It laughs at the sight of countless champions & Hero's falling, cities burning under its gaze, countless sacrifices & slaves, the very planet re-shaped in its visage – And its eventual spread into the very galaxy like a malignant growth, a tumor in the skin of reality.

It curses as it sees the Samurai return and begin plaguing it – Destroying armies, plans & slaves, hurting It in combat with that Accursed Sword, restoring hope to the young and undermining its stranglehold over the solar system -
But! Constantly Unable to destroy it or its eon's long rule.

It then begins to examine more recent (And peculiar events) –
The arrival of numerous new & strange beings through a variety of portals.
It examines their appearances –
The human who arrived naked but had encased itself with a lion's pelt then subsequently a suit of armour, who had set up a base of opposition in its constantly relocated castle hidden with technology and strange magic, this "Doctor".


It examines the new allies and minions gathered by this tin-pot tyrant:

The strange beast with the gargantuan exposed brain and its draconic minion, commanding dozens of Mantis like alien warriors, each superior to His best Shadow-ninja.

The Twin pair of mechanicals (Robots?) that soon after appearing while deactivated had been seized and apparently re-programmed by "The Doctor".

The first was A being clad in red & Black armour with a face resembling that of a human with very long yellow hair.
It was also disturbingly effective at demolishing robot hordes, even more so than the Samurai due to its combination of energy saber and blaster.

The second being while less – Efficient, was even more troublesome.

Covered in spikes, blades and thorns of some sort of quicksilver like metal it showed an expertise at torturing fallen opponents that almost managed to impress Aku himself with its impalement of opponents on trees via unpleasant looking spikes leaving even robots writhing in the agony caused by newly appeared pain-circuitry.
(He noted to use it as a new chief torturer if- Once it was captured).

Still (The Shadow mused) at least not all these newcomers were foes or detriments, Or cunning.

It laughs at the thought of its newest easily played minion – An ancient former high king (An "Emperor" it thought with amusement) arriving on a rotting throne.

Upon arrival He (He called himself Kallor) had been taken in by a family of peasants.
Within 2 days he ruled the nearby village, and by next week he ruled the nearest town (A small place of 60,000 citizens).

He'd been preparing an army of conquest when It had taken him and with a mix of intimidation, honeyed words, the "carrot" of a promised continent to rule (And a new throne) for its newest Minion.

The Shadowy Shogun Then scryed the newest being that had appeared – The Chaos lord known as Abaddon.

Aku leaned back and laughed. "Ha-Ha-Ha…"

Chapter 1 – Abaddon

Abaddon roared, backhanding the Acolyte and reducing the hapless man's chest into something akin to a pulped fruit.

"Idiots, worthless wretches – There must be at least 405 sacrifices, not a single one less in order for it to be a proper offering to the glory of undivided Chaos".

The cloaked human, robot & Alien chaos acolytes scattered in search of new sacrificial babies, whilst Abaddon gnawed on the unworthy sacrifices while marshalling his thoughts.

Once he would have used his Chaos blessed abilities to blast these unworthy fools into protoplasmic pulp and would have had an endless amount of slaves and warp-demons to serve him.

But, since his abrupt arrival on this miserable rock of a world The Former High champion of Chaos had found his link to the Chaos gods severed and his connection to the warp itself all but non-existent.

He still retained his sword, the Storm-claw of Horus, his innate gifts & physical prowess, but he was a pale shadow of his former self.
And knew it.


Still, was he not still Abaddon? Champion of Chaos undivided and the glorious chaos gods. Favored "Son" of Horus, War-leader of the Black Crusades, scourge of the False Emperor, ravager of solar systems and successor of Horus the Glorious!

He would conquer this miserable dust ball, spread his domain throught this galaxy, establish the Empire He had told him to make and laugh at the lamentations of his enemies.
(The only reason he had never succeeded at this before were the traitorous incompetent slaves that had sabotaged his plans and the crusades through no fault of his own).

Or at least he would, if he only could draw the warp-power he needed and stop the hinderments of the ceaseless infiltrators and Iron men sent to hinder him by the godling of this wretched world.

At the thought of these new obstacles he let loose another shout (Shaking the birds out of their trees and destroying their nests & eggs) and slashed a nearby 2 story house with his blade.

The house upon contact collapsed half-way then exploded into fragments of stone, metal, wood, bone & gristle (for it had been inhabited).

He stomped off searching for another hapless target of his wrath, whilst unnoticed by him the shadow of the demolished Abode remained unchanged.
And grew, spreading towards the corrupted War-lord's back…



Chapter 2: Abaddon's Fall

The sun was setting and the Shadows were growing, but in the wrong direction towards the blood-red setting sun.
Towards Abaddon.

The shadows grew taller than the destroyed dwelling, wider than a man, stretching upwards like a colossal black tree, caped with ruby orbs caping pin-point eyes, crowned with horns akin to branches.

It bore an amazing resemblance to the hundreds of millions of statues, structures, architectural motifs & mechanical devices raised in Its honour to represent Its visage.

It came closer to Abaddon's back, arching over him –
And was cut in half by Abaddon's blade.

"Pah, I haven't survived this long by being a dimwitted unattentive fool like the corpse emperor" sneered Abaddon.

However the 2 separated halves peeled apart then suddenly bonded together and grew back, taller and wider than before!

"Ha-Ha-Ha!" Laughed the Thing "Foolish warrior, your blade may be powerful but its magic, Empowers me! Its magic is akin to my essence, and for daring to attempt an assault on me, Aku The Shogun of sorrow & Lord of Earth you will, DIE!"

The Darkness that was the Shadow released scores of tentacles at the lone armoured Chaos lord.

Abaddon leapt back, parrying the tentacles as he retreated, even managing to cut some off from the central mass.
But from each of the stumps new barbs grew, trebling the assault on the now back-pedaling Abaddon.


As the battle continued Abaddon failed to notice the fact that the cut Tentacles were no longer rejoining the central mass, but were now pooling into a single pool of rapidly moving ink black Ooze.

He leapt back yet again, 5 meters up to the top of a nearby hill-top, but the shadow unleashed a blast from its glowing "eyes" that Abaddon dodged in mid-air, but that demolished the hilltop in an explosion that sent him flying.

He landed, but the pool was mere inches behind him, then it was under him.

It grew, akin to a nightmarish plant that encircled and surrounded him, then collapsed onto him, penetrating the tiny cracks left in his armour by the barbed slashes until it tunneled onto the surface of his leather-hard skin.

It oozed along his skin until it found 4 convenient openings into his inner recesses.

Abaddon had just enough time to scream in rage before he lost that ability, choking on the ooze that flowed into him, filling his stomache, throat, lungs & stomache, then his brain and entire body, then the very inner recesses of his warp-soul.

Cont -

His blood-red eyes that had so terrified countless beings popped out – And were replaced by orbs as black as a black hole, recesses.

Abaddon, Warleader of The black Crusades and chosen champion of Chaos was dead.

Aku however had a new slave.

Aku crowed in triumph, "You are me now, fool – To think that you could resist the might that is Aku! Now you shall be known as – Akaddon.
And with your form and the power of your blade I shall finally destroy that, accursed Samurai Jack!".

The newly named Akaddon (whose helmet was now pitch black and had grown 4 horns) prostrated itself – "Your will shall be done, my master".


Interlude

Ten million sandal steps away, a man took his 10,000,001th step on the path.

He had reached a crossroads, the trail broken by a strawberry field that stretched on ahead to both sides and in the middle of the forking trails.

He hefted a forked stick and threw it high in the air.
It spun once, twice, thrice and landed point towards the leftwards trail.

So the lone man continued his trek, shivering slightly as the cool night wind washed over him, as His simple home-spun round straw hat, wooden open sandals, white robe and silk under trappings provided scant protection against the chill wind.
In addition he could not but help feel a chill at a sudden grim feeling, as if someone had walked over his father's grave.

End Interlude


Chapter 3 – Which begins with drinking

- A small, rustic town.
- A small, old tavern filled with a variety of grizzled heavily armed beings.
- A sign which reads "Gustav's all Ye can eate ayn drinke night, till ye drop. Only 9 gublaks!"
- A crying tavern keeper.
- The source of Gustav's impending bankruptcy:
- A massive man in a red & black Kilt, with a massive sword the size of a man on his back and set of pipes (Bagpipes) currently unused due to the tankard of beer (His 5th) currently attached to his mouth (Upon which lay a bright orange moustache coloured with froth and spittle).

"Bah, what do ye call this weak pig-swill" shouted the massive man (Known as "The Scotsman").

Gustav replied "Aku's finest, strongest 1,000 year old malt whiskey" (He had hoped that the fact that this drink was used to melt down armour and was a highly volatile grenade component might drop the Aku-spawned monster).

"Phe, tis weaker than me dear departed mother's milk" said The Scot, "Now me wife, there's a woman a women who can make a brew, even with the foulest ingredients she can make drinks to delight a man almost as much as her beautiful singing or feasts".

"Frack your mother" shouted a random bounty hunter in the crowd.

At this ill-worded statement the Scot's face turned as red as his kilt, the half-empty keg in his hands shattered in a shower of splinters and its metal hoops were bent like pretzels together.

However The inhabitants of the tavern however were too busy being flung aside like bowling pins to notice such fine details.

Away went the conquering Scot leaving a pile of bodies & a grenade wrecked tavern behind him.

It therefore can be understandable as to why Gustav pointed the Troop of bounty hunters (Carrying a heavily restrained captive) after him.
End chapter 3


And yes, I had Abaddon war-leader of the black Crusades get Hentai tentacle raped, I'm amazed that I didn't notice this when writing the scene

Chapter 4 – Part I - The Companions

180 degrees of a stick's throw and 9 hours walk away, a lone man took another sandal clad step.

He paused, listening to the howling of the morning wind and the whistling of the strawberry fields – To the sound of Fighting!

Quick as a Deer he ran, over the trail and through the strawberry field, jumping over rocks & obstacles until he reached the source of the commotion, the grinding sound of blade on blade and claw on flesh.

There were 2 groups in combat –
The first was composed of a dozen vicious looking grizzled robots and slobbering attack lizards (Of which 4 were alive out of the original 13 judging by the wreckage).

On the opposing side was an unconscious (And unharmed) olive- green-gray skinned being with caped tusks, grey hair, a large sheathed sword and ragged clothing.
His companion was conscious, but was bleeding heavily from a half dozen grievous injuries, apparently from protecting his (sleeping?) companion.


The apparent leader of the robot bandits voxed "Yarr me hearties, kill him and his sleeping friend, take their treasure in the name of the black Banditos!"

This would perhaps have had more of the moralizing effect it was meant to if The Samurai had not made up his mind at this point concerning potential action and the offended party, and was rushing to its defense, leaving a trail of bisected bandits and decapitated lizards in his wake.





Chapter 4 – Part II - The passing of the burden

The Samurai wiped the oil off his sword with the deceased bandit leader's eye patch.

He sheathed his blade and approached the dying being whose plight had attracted him.
A quick glance told him that he had arrived too late, and that the being had at most moments of life left.
He was amazed that he had managed to stay conscious, let alone fight.

He was yet more amazed when the being called out to him "Who are you stranger?"

"They Call me Jack, Samurai Jack" replied the Lone Samurai.

"My thanks for saving my friend, <Cough> I don't have much time so listen well as I have a dying wish for you as you seem to be my only hope in this strange Warren of a world".
"My companions name is Icarium, you must accompany him – spin whatever tale you want but he must not be alone, he is a great warrior but always forgets his past and searches for it constantly".
He hacked again upchoking a large blot of blood and flesh.
"You must beware his rage, and most importantly of all you must Never ever <Wheeze>"
"Never what?!" Said Jack puzzled "Anger him?".
"not just that, Never let him <Rattle>…" The being went silent, dead from its wounds.

Jack sighed, he'd buried the being and was still waiting for this "Icarium" to awaken.
He was leery of re-taking the role of caretaker, but his conscience would not let him abandon an amnesiac being alone in a strange world without friend or kin.

Just as he was about to succumb to the temptation of prodding Icarium with a stick, the latter opened his eyes.

"So you say that I had a companion whom you kindly buried, and who was helping me discover my past and memories" Recapped Icarium with a sad expression.

"Yes, and I would be honored to assist you in your quest, I to know what it is like to be alone in a strange world" Said Jack, extending a hand.

Icarium clasped it "Thank you – Jack, my friend".


Chapter 5 – Slaughter at the desert corral

The troop of Bounty hunters rode onwards, each astride on a massive mechanical steed.
Each "horse" was covered in spikes (Barring the saddle) and was the colour of old, oxidized blood.

At the back of the parade of the 20 hunters a cage was tugged along, attached to the rearmost horse and moving on 4 automated wheels.

Within its metal bars a massive humanoid lay, trussed, bound & gagged from head to toe in thick ironized-duraplast chains, gagged with an oxi-ferp choker, his chains supported by a massive flint sword impaling them through the surface of the cage.

Despite his chains, within his eyes burned a fire that promised destruction to his underhanded captors, a threat that redoubled with every bump of the cage.


Eventually the grizzled bounty hunters had the good fortune of tracking down the drunken wandering Scotsman.

The Scotsman had the good luck coming across to vent his rage upon, be it by ripping them apart (With his bare hands), blow to smithereens (With a grenade), chew in half (With his teeth), blast into shreds (With his leg mounted machine gun), to squash into a pancake (With the contents of his kilt) or to slice into small pieces (With the obvious implement of choice for such a task).

By the time he was through this repertoire the Bounty hunters had been decimated with the 10%/2 survivors' running for their lives while the Scot was disposing of the last of their rocket launching steeds (via ripping them apart or smashing through their back).

As they ran, a discourse sprang up:
"Whose bloody idea was this" screamed one.

"Yours!" shouted back the other (back at him).

"Well, it was a stupid idea" Said the first as he hopped along (His first leg had served as a club for the Scotsman to brain the lead rider after ripping it of him), "Anyway lets see you offer a superior plan".

"All right then, let's let the other prisoner we found sleeping loose on him" said Zorp (For this was his name).

"Well, it's certainly worth a try" admitted Zirp.

The Prisoner's eyes snapped open at the sound of the voices of his captors.
"Let him go, our large, orange bearded, angry Scots-boss wants to whet his blade on him".
"Yes, yes release him so that our glorious leader can kill him as he bawls battle cries to the North".

The chains burst open at the flick of a distant switch, allowing their bruised contents to spill forth.
Only for him to rise, gripping his blade for support.

Normally such a ruse would not have fooled one of feeble wits, let alone the prisoner, but the rage at his imprisonment; chaining and humiliation had burned away his wisdom and stoked the fire in his soul.

He spoke in a voice of rage and cold fury: "I vow to kill the one responsible for my chaining. This I, Karsa Orlong swear by my blood as a Toblokai".

With a single slash of his stone blade he sliced the bars of the cage containing him in half, and another slash with the unnaturally sharp flint blade open a doorway for the massive Toblokai warrior to stride through.
Out he went, blade held poised in his massive hands, point out-thrust as he paced towards the northwards part of the wrecked train and a drunk "Barely warmed up" Scotsman.

Chapter 6 – A new Hunter in town

The city was alive & vibrant with light and life.

Tens of thousands of hover vehicles zipped through the air on dozens of vertical levels, while Holographic tri-d ads patrolled the city, almost all showing the visage of Earth's All=powerful, eternal, immortal, invincible, benevolent ruler Aku! (All rights reserved to Aku).

In one of the city's lowest and most primitive areas on the ground itself a machine shop was open, sparks flying out of the open entrance.

Inside the workshop was a gold coloured space-craft, held in the air via large metal clamps.

A small, Oriental man with a faint wisp of white hair slided out from under the ship.
He took of his welding mask, fire resistant vest & home made wooden sandals and went through a door at the back of the shop leading into his house, a small very, very old fashioned residence equipped with paper doors and walls of authentic (Home made) rice paper.

He walked through his house until he reached the guest room.
There on a rice-paper mattress laid his 'guest' & owner of the ship – An armoured figure, apparently human based on the proportions.

He/she was half-upright and stiffened upon seeing the door open before relaxing slightly at the sight of the small old man.

"My son told me that you had regained consciousness" Said the host, "I found you and your crashed ship on the outskirts of the city and bought you here, your ship is still in my workshop being repaired".

The armoured being finally spoke "I owe you my thanks, but I'm afraid that I currently don't have any resources with which to re-pay you for your generous hospitality. Perhaps you could hold onto my ship as collateral until I found myself some work and able to repay you".

The old man replied "That would be more than adequate; you only owe me for the repairs & towing.
I wouldn't dream of charging a guest in my house for the basic necessities of shelter and sustenance.
Might I just know your name and profession? Perhaps I can help you find some honest work".

The figure replied "My name is Samus Aran, my profession is a galactic Bounty Hunter".

The old man sighed "I suppose that honest work is out of the question then".

Samus replied defensively "Please don't confuse me with the common scum who prey on the weak & "soft" targets, I go after only the hard and dangerous cases".
She continued "I saw a wanted poster through the window for a massive sum for someone named "Samurai Jack"; the prize money would be enough I hope to-"

"NO!" barked the small mechanic.
He composed himself and said "I apologize for my unseemly outburst, but I must request as your temporary host that you leave the Samurai alone, he has done no harm to any barring a large number of robbers, thieves, criminals, bandits and hostile bounty hunters of the worst sort".

"All right, alright" appeased Samus "I'll honour your request, I certainly owe you that much for not stripping my ship or my suit, but I still need a fast "Hard case"".

"Thank you greatly, as for the "hunting there's a data port in my sons room down the hall-way" said the calmed man "Feel free to utilize it once you finish resting".

So, later on Samus checked the terminal, interfacing with it via her scanner (That was still available to her even in her strange new bio-Fusion suit, acquired such a short time ago).

She also took note of the Signed "Wanted: Samurai Jack" poster on the wall of the child's room ("So that’s why he asked" she mused).


There was an endless stream of potential bounties on the data-net, apart from the massive one placed on SJ, his companions, information for his whereabouts & a companion of his known as "The Scotsman".

Apart from that forbidden fruit there were thousands of offers for the heads (Or appendage equilevent thereof) of various "Rebels" but she avoided those in disgust (The rulership of the planet had not struck her as a benevolent one to say the least).

There was one interesting high value local offer however, a "Hostile Xenomorph" that had taken up residency in a nearby sewage treatment plant covering an old swamp.
Apparently it had popped up and slaughtered a half dozen "Peace officers" and "Aku-drones" before vanishing.

It was described as "small, wrinkled, very, very, very fast, bright green and refers to itself as "Yoda"".
Sounds easy enough Samus mused noting down the location, "how dangerous can a small green munchkin be after all?"

End chapter 7


It'll be a while till I update this, since I don't have any written new chapters to type up to the computer.

I'd really appreciate comments and reviews, even of the grammatical nature

Interlude

The Obsidian coloured, crystalline bug eyed insectoid robots of the 15th Aku Extermination army scoured the countryside.

They killed everything that moved, dissecting hapless humans into bloody ruins with their diamonoid blades. Gigantic, slave driven artillery platforms, eerily reminiscent of caterpillars, lumbered forward, blasting houses into molten craters.

Such was the fate of those who would dare destroy a Pillar to to Aku.

The robots began another systematic scan for anything larger than a dog, no survivors would escape this purge even as a warning to others.

+++OBJECT SIGHTED - SCANNING...
DETAILS: RED, BLACK, GOLD ARMOURED MOTIFS - NON STANDARD HORN PATTERN - OVER BASE HUMAN HEIGHT - NO RECORDS IN DATABASE - ANALYSIS COMPLETE - DESTROY+++

The target of this scan was sitting alone on top of a hill, his thoughts very slowly running through his immense armoured head, as he slowly banged a gauntleted fist against his helm, in a way very reminiscent of the human act of "Head scratching"

"Kurse Sad, where Children? Me miss them… Maybe they hurt? Hurt?! HURT! Malakith maybe? What do…"

As these thoughts slowly trailed through his mind he felt a slight tickle. Turning, Kurse saw the black carapace of the killing machine that had slashed him with its molecule thick diamond blade. It could have carved straight through a half meter thick wall of stone and should have sliced him clean in half.

It shattered against his arm as if it were made of cheap ceramic.

Notified by their factory-mate's screech of alarm more bugs came scurrying to assist in dispatching the problematic target.
However they were as successful as their predecessor, completely failing even to garner any additional reaction from the being.

Having prioritized him as a high level threat they sent out a tightly coded binary transmission, summoning the artillery.

The artillery pieces rolled in, slave drivers whipping the motive force as they trundled closer.
As The pieces slowly crawled forward, each segment composed of layers of armour on top of open tractor-tracks, the ground itself shook under them while the sounds of the monotonous "Work faster" call of the robot slave driver in each wheel preceded it to an equal degree.
Then finally they reached their immobile target, they gathered into a perfect circle around it and raised their massive "heads" to fully gather the solar cataclyst needed to fire their "Hell-core streamers".

The combined blast of a half dozen artillery units melted the ground into molten lava in a radius of a dozen meters, and fully half that deep. All centered around the being.

Even this proved a useless gesture as their target merely began to swim through the lava!

Truly threatened now the artillery pieces swung around to bombard the area with their secondary weapon, a ray that transferred heat away from its area of effect. A freeze weapon, able to take materials and objects hundreds of degrees below zero

The lava, and the man swimming through it, froze. Kurse was trapped, locked inside a chunk of basalt.
An outside observer could have sword that relief showed in the actions of the faceless automatons and he would have been far from wrong as coded transmissions passed between them.

+++TRANSMISSION FOR CENTRAL AREA COMMAND:
Target neutralized – Victory! ALL HAIL AKU – EXTERMINATION TO PROCEED ACCORDING TO SCHEDULE +0.2 AKU HOURS – END TRAN+++

Unfortunately at that point the block began to wobble. Cracks appeared, skittering over its surface like a spider's web.
Then it shattered, solid basalt proving no more solid than an eggshell.

Kurse was puzzled as to why these silly machines were bothering him; still he paid them no heed until he saw It.

The "motive force" of the artillery, gangs of humans, many of them young children barely able to walk.

Logically Kurse could see that they neither Asgardian or Elven young nor were they his charges, but this was a triviality soon to be put aside as he saw a gang leader whip one of his young slaves.

This made Kurse very, very angry.

His rage had little effect on his strength, but considering that he had five fold the power of all but the mightiest of gods he was far from requiring any sort crutch to squash some bugs.

A few short minutes later the thousands strong army had been utterly exterminated, transformed into a vast scrap heap that was to provide employment for survivors in the region for decades to come.

As for Kurse? He wandered away, confused and alone.



Chapter 8 – Bounty Hunter vs Green Xeno-dwarf

Samus Aran, galactic bounty hunter descended into the sewers.

She examined her surroundings, while her scanner translated markings on the walls & rocks of the former swamp.

She began to make her way towards the Sewage treatment plant, the stench increasing as the swamp declined and the Sewage flow increased.
As the Excrement of millions flowed underneath her Samus offered a silent prayer to the Chozo that her altered bio-organic suit retained all the properties of her old one, specifically the shielding systems (following the absorption of the SA-X) even if it did rely overmuch on kinetic redirection and raw durability.

She approached the wasteland around the plant where the swamp had been completely over-run with debris, junk, trash, refuse, raw sewage, lumps of rubble & steel and the other refuse covering the terrain.

"Perfect place for an ambush" she thought to herself.

She charged up her primary blaster and activated her Infra-Red vision as she began searching for signs of life (The bounty notes indicated a heat emitting mammal).

Unfortunately this meant that her "radar" missed a trio of multi-ton boulders slowly rise off the ground and into the air behind her, the crumbling noise masked by the flow of the sewers and "Chug-Chug-Chug" of the still distant plant's turbines operating.

Away from The Lone Bounty hunter a short green being in a ragged cloak had his thumb and forefinger held apart. Then he pressed those twin digits together.
The corresponding reaction to this act was that Samus found herself pummeled by the boulders (And additional smaller stones) that smashed into her at incredible speeds.

The primitive projectiles pulverized on impact with her shields and armour but their sheer speed and kinetic impact drained her already borderline reserves of energy, despite the normally negligible effect of a mere 9 million joules of kinetic energy in a tenth of a second.

Rapidly recovering her bearings and cursing the suit's weakness to pure physical impact and her idiocy in not finding a way to recharge her suits reservoirs Samus somersaulted upwards and forwards, presenting a moving target to her hidden adversary.

She span and somersaulted in mid-air as she blasted the various boulders propelled at her and dodged smaller projectiles and shards of metal.
Samus blasted a pair of missiles to clear away potential cover and was astonished to see her missiles come blasting back at her, and she barely managed to shoot the subsonic projectiles down, the shockwave sending her slamming into the ground.

She landed on the "palms" of her hands and pusher herself forwards in a twisting leaping handstand to land on her feet.

She began to run at a constantly accelerating rate, her stored supplies of kinetic energy combining with servos in her armour serving to increase her speed to supersonic levels.


A command was mentally tapped out and her armour stopped "shaping" her passage through the air and absorbing the energy into itself.
The effect of this failsafe being disabled was a series of devastating sonic booms in her wake that shredded the environs as well as most sources of potential cover, even for a telekinetic midget.

She covered as maximum area possible in a long wide circular loop around the plant, while the effects of the friction and sonic speed debris took their toll on her minute energy supplies until finally she powered down, kinetic reserves all but drained.

She examined her wake of destruction, trying to sight movement or heat as she cycled viewing modes.
Then she spotted It at last, a flash of green on top of a distant boulder.

She utilized her mass converter and "transformed" into a tiny, compact armoured ball that then began to maneuver through the field of shredded debris towards her target, hiding stealthily by passing under the fields of rubble.

-----------------
Thanks to Ford Prefect & Pick for helping me with re-write the Interlude

The short, bright green Alien known as Yoda scanned the area warily.

Yoda, the former Grandmaster of the Jedi order and ex-citizen of the Galactic Republic drew his lightsaber, marveling as he did so at the ease of the task when performed in this strange new young body of his.

After regaining consciousness in this strange planet he had found himself in a form young and hale, feeling not a day over 222.

This was a very pleasing difference from the sick, ancient hulk his body had become on Dagobah sustained by nothing but the force and his own indomitable willpower, though Yoda would have given much to discover what had caused this transformation from a Dying Jedi to a hale & hearty living being.

He distanced these distractions from his thoughts and reached out in the fabric of the living force, searching and sensing the hostile intent of the strange armoured Bounty hunter through the Force that was So clear here without the shroud of the dark-side, though this world was steeped in the taint of the Dark side, in Fear, in Hate and endless Anguish.

There! He felt the Bounty hunter's single minded focus that had made him/her? So hard to detect mere meters away from where he was standing!

His eyes snapped open and he jumped through the air forwards, his velocity propelled by the shockwave of air & debris created by the explosion of a powerful energy bomb a bare half meter from where he had stood.

Yoda somersaulted through the air, maintaining his altitude via a sustained barrage of Telekinetic downwards thrusts against the ground using the force.

Even before he landed he was already reaching out through the Force to grasp the impossibly small and compact form of the Hunter as it rolled towards him at an incredible speed.

He almost had her/him now and... There! He grasped the Hunter's form in the force, and Squeezed.

He felt armour compress, organs pressed together and some sort of high output energy field that prevented him from affecting the true form of the Bounty Hunter through the Carapace.
But he didn't need to, not when he was crushing the Hunter inside its armour as if it were a Desilian Sand-trout inside a metal can.

He felt the systems in the armour begin to expand even against the force he exerted, so he proceeded with his next most viable method of attack.

Smashing the Hunter against the ground inside its tightly compressed ball so hard that it smashed through the metal and boulders underneath it.

Then he lifted her/him and smashed the armoured ball again into the hard ground with the force
Then again.
And again.
And yet again.

Amazingly despite smashing a small crater in the ground the outer layers of the hunter's armour still had not cracked, though he could feel that the being inside had sustained injuries, but was still beginning to expand into her/his standard combat profile.

Yoda's eyes half closed as he tried to see what would be the best option out of the possible futures blossoming in front of him through the Force.

Smashing the Hunter into the ground again?
The Hunter opened into it's full form and killed him in mid-air.

Only crushing the being?
The damage to the systems wouldn't be enough and he wouldn't be able to dodge the energy blasts in time.

Moving backwards and maintaining an assault of Telekentically propelled debris and redirecting the beings own... missiles at her/him?
Not enough and the energy blasts would affect to large an area for him to dodge for long enough.

Increasing his own powers a hundredfold and blasting the offending being into a charred, electrified husk?
[Never!] He cast this dark impulse aside without a second thought.

Hand to Hand combat with his lightsaber?
Possible, but he felt that the beings shell would resist the heated component of his blade with ease, and he had no idea how strong this being might be, whether it could use its energy blasts at close range or whether it had additional devices or exceptional skill in close combat.

He felt more possibilities open up but he needed more time! How to delay and hurt the being… Of course!

Yoda spun around his hand in a pointed gesture with his forefingers outstretched and made a violent flinging motion towards the distant factory.

The Hunter was thrown away at a blistering speed in the air, though it then opened in mid-air once outside of the range of Yoda's crushing Force driven "Grip".

Unfortunately this happened just as she slammed into the outer walls of the refinery, punching through layer after layer upon layer of super heated steel, stone, heated, compressed sewage and everything else in her way.

She crashed into the interior of the plant, badly hurt, disoriented & suffering from massive internal bleeding.
But Samus Aran, The Hunter was still alive.
And very, very angry.

Yoda sensed that the unnatural Hunter had somehow retained its consciousness after being flung like a Quarrel bolt and the brutal collision with the Plant's walls, and that it had landed in the same section of the plant as the group of younglings that were hiding there!

He ran towards the plant, calling on the Force for more & more speed and endurance as he raced towards his foe and the runaway children that had somehow escaped his sensings, and that were perilously near his foe.




Teaser for the next part:

Chapter 9 – The Punitive Army of the Seguleh

The 3 Seguleh walked through the outskirts of the town.

Each of the 3 men wore a mask bearing nicks and scratches, but they were deep marks, and not accidental ones.


The foremost of the 3 figures stood tall (The other purposefully angled their necks down when facing him or near him); his mask bore only 2 twin vertical slashes.

He was Mok, 3d ranked of the people known as "The Seguleh".


Accompanying him were 2 others wearing far more worn, pitted & slashed masks.

They were known as the brother-Twins Fen & Sen, the 18Th & 17Th highest ranked from among their nation of nearly peerless warriors.


The original task that had been bequeathed to Mok & his subordinates had been to search out & find the lost Second of the Seguleh, yet the warren they had used for transport had opened but not taken them into its normal plane but instead had sucked them into this strange world.

Unperturbed by his new surroundings Mok had decided to search for the Second in this new world anyway, as well as a way back to their Island home (And world) as well as if there were any worthy of overtaking his or the hiddenSecond's position in the Annal-Marks of the Seguleh.

However So far all he and his lessers had found were empty surroundings, a few abandoned or scorched towns, a few human & mechanical bandits who foolishly attempted to incommode them and endless blackcarapaced automatons (wielding diamond edged blades as arms) scouring the countryside.
These were slightly more notable foes but despite their speed, strength, hard shells, razor sharp blades and endless numbers (Which mattered not for Mok so recently blooded with the remains of the armies of thePannion Domin) they were less of a challenge than what was worthy of that to be faced by a mere Black-mask Adept individually.


The stainless steel doors of the "Hellish times" saloon slid open with a faint "Hisss".

The faint lighting from the musty "Akudon" lithium lights barely illuminated the entrance, revealing the shadowy outlines of 3 humanoid figures.

The Foremost of the 3 took a step forward, drawing a massive crescent blade as he did so.

"We seek the greatest of warriors here, the one known as "The Samurai"".

The various shadowy denizens of the bar glanced at each other (via eye, sensor or filsorp), at their own (Smaller) weapons then all pointed towards a lone figure sitting at the corner of the bar at the far end of the saloon.

The trio entered walking in swift cadence, while almost not a single eye (Sensor or filsorp) looked up from their glasses (tubes, oil sacks or gas canisters) to examine their armoured forms or covered faces. Allmost every eye[i/] .

They reached the lone man and stopped walking simultaneously as the leader of the trio spoke:

"You are "The Samurai"?"

The man sitting at the bar did not turn around, instead he finished his tea in a single gulp then replied:
"Yeah, whats it got to do with you?"

The lead figure spoke again, anticipation dripping from his tones

"We have come to defeat you, prepare to D-"
His words were cut off as "The Samu-rai" smashed his elbow into the man's pelvis (just where two armour plates met and left a vulnerable "hole") then rammed a sword through his chest down to the hilt.

"The Samu-rai" spun around revealing his form - a brown skinned man, large & tall wearing a short brightly coloured shirt and baggy trousers, his observors didn't have time to take his appearance in as he drew a bamboo stick from behind him and whipped it around smashing it into the kneecap of the second of the trio, pulverizing it and leaving the man to collapse whimpering to the floor.

He turned to the third
"You want some of this too?!"
The man shook his hands, dropped his scimitar and ran out of the door leaving his compatriots to writhe on the floor.

"The Samu-rai" grinned a full toothed grin "Anyone else want some!" he shouted.

The other beings in the bar quickly turned away to look at their beverages, cups, bowls, vacuum flasks, electrical sockets & soylent brews.

All that is save those of 3 beings who had watched the fight with great, clinical, analitical interest.

"If this is the champion of this region and is highly thought of no less" Signalled Fen.

"Yes, no real skill, just some flash, speed and a few techniques are all this one possess" (Signalled back Sen).

Mok remained Aloof as befitted him his place above his inferior companions here among outsiders of such little worth.

He considered the disparate elements present in this "Samu-Rai"'s style, it seemed to be a case of a fool being taught the arts of combat by a true warrior, and one of surpassing skill considering the prowess of this warrior (Despite his butchering of many techniques and obvious holes & fighting flaws).

Someone capable of training such a dolt might prove truly skilled, perhaps the wayward Second, or perhaps someone else, someone worthy of Mok or one of his companions. (If he was to be trapped on this world then it was time to begin the work of re-establishing the Seguleh, and for that he would need warriors of true skill, though inferior to himself of course).

Mok had been preparing to fight the First in a few years, but he would not object to becoming the Zerox of this world.
Once he had established his superiority of course.

Behind his mask Mok smiled in eager anticipation (though outwardly he had not moved an inch).


-----------------------
So what'cha think of my handling of "The Seguleh" so far?

Chapter 10: Barbarity


Blade clashed against blade.

Sparks flew from the impact, igniting pooled robot oil and illuminating the faces of the dueling fighters with the hellish tableau of blue-white & orange flames.

The Scotsman looked quizzically at the strange "man" who had lunged at him, sword first.

The "man" was huge, far taller by more than half a meter than even the Scotsman's two hundred and twenty centimeters of height.
Every inch of his monstrous form was heavy with dense, bulging muscles. He held a massive stone sword with long, scarred arms, point raised and held without wavering.

The Scotsman wondered why the rest of the deceased bounty hunters hadn't sent out what looked like their best fighter out earlier. Almost immediately he abandoned the thought, not willing to waste any more time on speculation, not when there was some serious fighting to be done.

The Scot swung his massive, rune encrusted Full-blade around in a crushing, and momentum fueled over-head swing down towards his foe's mammoth skull.

He was astonished when not only did his nemesis bring up his own blade in time to parry the strike, he also matched the force and momentum of the blow, though it nearly drove him to his knees. Most astonishingly of all the stone sword held against the blow without so much as a sliver being chipped off.

The Scotsman's face lit up with a sardonic grin.
"So lady, you've got yerself a rune blade of own, eh? Good, I haven't had a duel with less than a dozen people that lasted more than a few seconds since ye were still sucking at yer mothers' teat.
What's the name of the hunter I'm about to dismember?"

Karsa Orlong snarled at the mocking of this man who had had been behind his capture and degradation.

"My name whore-son slaver is Karsa Orlong of the Thelomen Toblokai. And for your transgressions and crimes against me you are going to die screaming for your mother while I strangle her in front of you."

The Scotsman had been about to reply that he would forego the use of his leg mounted Machine-gun and of his remaining grenades and to retort that he was not and in fact never had been (or ever would be) a slaver. However these thoughts were drowned in the red wash of his berserker rage at the words of Karsa.

"Don't ye talk about me sainted mother! AAAAARGH!!"

And so began the clash of the two warriors, pitting savage strength, unnatural endurance, supreme skill, raw rage, animal like cunning, cat like agility, snake like reflexes, unbreakable, indomitable 'weapons' and enchanted swords against one another.

For hours on end the battle raged with no quarter given & no quarter asked, each brute drawing upon internal reserves of energy far beyond those of any civilized man, or indeed of any human of normal breed.

As the hours passed from night to morning to dusk the sun slowly sank, and as it did dark shadows crept & lengthened around them, oozing pools of ink black in the burned tundra surrounding them, for the fires of oil had been extinguished, unlike the fires of their souls.

By now their tempo of blow and block, strike and counterstrike, thrust and parry had decreased, for even these indomitable fighters tired.

They paused, each man leaning on his sword, breathing slowly and heavily. Each one had his eyes bloodshot but focused unblinkingly on those of his counterpart. Each man Observing, waiting for an opening or the slightest sign of frailty in his foe while waiting for his own strength and vigor to return.

The Scotsman spoke first, his words slow and breathing labored.
"Why. <Heh> Why did ye call me a <Huff> a slaver?"

Karsa's breath was quickly returning to him due to his 4 lungs but did not betray this fact.
"Because <Pant> you are one. Part of the <Ahuh> wretched slaving bounty hunters who chained me while I <Spits a wad of blood> lay unconscious"


The angry Scot retorted hotly:
"I'm no slaver, never was one, never shall be <Ahuf> and I've never forgone the chance to rip one apart by the hands, though I've killed more than I've slaughtered them, the –"

He broke off in mid-sentence as he hefted his sword off the ground sending a clod of earth flying at Karsa's face and charged him.

Karsa spun his own blade around, the mud slapping against its massive body without as much as a speck of dirt entering his eyes. He was puzzled at the man's statement - he certainly didn't seem to be lying (He doubted that the man had the brains to attempt any duplicity beyond a lightning fast triple body feint), and he had been too angry initially to consider his ragged case for the man being involved in the violations perpetuated against him.

He jumped back, sword readied and in hand. He swung his blade in a round the shoulders spin then in a downwards slash, pushing The Scotsman's blade aside. Then, like a striking snake, he drove his head forward for a vicious headbutt. The Scotsman mirrored this action precisely.

<CRACK>

Unfortunately for the Toblokai, while Karsa Orlong's skull was far hardier than that of a human, The Scotsman had been head-butting mountain goats, robot sheep-dogs, rocks, trees & angry bears since he was four.

They both regained consciousness a few minutes later slumped next to each other. Their proximity prevented additional swordplay & both came to this revelation almost instantly, and so they promptly began to grapple each other.

Fist smashed into bone, fingernails raked through skin and cloth leaving bloody trails behind. Teeth bit down into red muscles and ripped, elbows smashed into noses, legs snapped out into guts and knuckles buried themselves in foreheads.

The fight continued less deadly perhaps, but even more brutal as the animal-like pre-human brutes clashed sending form against form, muscle to strained muscle, sinews bulging & bones bending.


+++ 11 ORGANICS DETECTED. NO ID CODES DETECTED. NO LICENSED PHEREMONE TAGS DETECTED.
SECONDARY FIGURE MATCHES BIOLOGICAL DATABASE FOR: HUMAN. SCANNING DATABASE… SCANNING… MATCH. TARGET IDENTIFIED AS "THE SCOTSMAN", SECONDARY POSITION IN PLANETARY BOUNTY HUNTER TROPHY RANKINGS.
MULTIPLE CHARGES ON COUNTS OF: MASS DESTRUCTION. MURDER OF A LICENSED MINION OF Aku [Subroutine: ALL PRAISE THE IMMORTAL AKU! End sub-routine]. DESTRUCTION OF LICENSED BOUNTY HUNTERS [ORGANIC + MECHANOIDS]. MANSLAUGHTER. BUGSLAUGHTER. ROBO-SLAUGHTER. PUBLIC ROWDINESS. PUBLIC DRUNKNESS. PUBLIC NUDITY. PUBLIC BRAWLING. DESTRUCTION OF Aku [Subroutine: FOR THE GLORY OF THE ALL-POWERFUL AKU! End sub-routine] LICENSED PROPERTY. INCITING REBBELION. INCITING BRAWLING. INCITING IMBIBEMENT OF ILLEGAL SUBSTANCES. DEFACING A MONUMENT + TEMPLE + STATUE TO Aku [Subroutine: EVERLASTING BE HIS REIGN! End subroutine]. DESTRUCTION OF LICENSED ARMY MECHANOID WAR-MACHINES. MANUFACTURE OF ILLEGAL ALCHOHOL+PHOSPHORUS+OXYGEN+ALKALINE BASED LIQUIDS+FOODSTUFFS. HARBOURING REBELS. THEFT. TAKING Aku's [Subroutine: IN THE NAME OF THE GLORIOUS AKU! End sub-routine] NAME(S) IN VAIN.
ASSOCIATION 2D CLASS WITH TARGET OMEGA! [Subroutine: Initiate OMEGA Protocols: Subject "Jack" Zerox priority].
USE OF MAXIMUM FORCE APPROVED, KILLING FORCE LIMITED. PRIORITY IS TO CAPTURE TARGET AND RETRIEVE FOR INFORMATION CONCERNING TARGET OMEGA +++

The twin Titans grappled each other in a vicious deadlock, palm to palm and face to face.
Each perfect muscle on their massive forms bulged & was accentuated along with every vein, every sinew & every ligament in their awesome forms. Stalemate.

Karsa grunted
"Why are we fighting if you're not a slaver nor an ally of the bounty hunters who captured & denigrated me?"

The Scot replied between ragged gasps for air as his legs dug deeper into the rich brown loam under his feet and hands rumbled:
" Ye insulted me mother, that’s worse than insulting a mans wife and I've killed men for daring to disparage so much as a hair on her beautiful, flawless face. I don't give a haggis's ass as to whether you are one of the bounty hunters I smashed or not, I'm still going to use your skin for my bagpipes. AAGARGH!"

At this cry he pressed his arms down, threw them up as the hold on them faltered and began to choke Karsa, who mirrored the act and began to choke his still inebriated foe-man.

The Scot had the stronger, surer and harder grip, but Karsa had twice the lung capacity and the thicker neck, but The Scotsman had gone for minutes on end without a breath taken while playing his beloved bag-pipes.

The choking continued until at last both lost consciousness, though each mans fingers remained locked around the others windpipe. And there they would have remained until death claimed them both if not for the cold metallic claws that undid their death-grips, chained them and then carried the two unconscious barbarians away.

Towards the war-camp of A-42.

End chapter 10