LOL!Stravo wrote:Damn you guys! I thought a new chapter was posted.
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*checks username, looks away, doublechecks*Stravo wrote:Damn you guys! I thought a new chapter was posted.
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He's probably off juggling his two other fics (Animatrix, Twilight War). They're pretty good too; you should definately check them out. And of course, you never know when Real Life will strike and slow ya down.FireNexus wrote:*BUMP*
Where is my fix, Stravo.
Have patience young one. We will have our Starcrossed yet.
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You want to die...don't you...FireNexus wrote:*BUMP*
Where is my fix, Stravo. I'm starting to go through withdrawal.
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Really? U know when i saw the e-mail for this i thought excatly the same thing.PeZook wrote:I can hold him while you beat the crap outta him. I thought Stravo posted a new chapter when I got the e-mail...Captain_Cyran wrote:You want to die...don't you...FireNexus wrote:*BUMP*
Where is my fix, Stravo. I'm starting to go through withdrawal.
Crazedwraith wrote:Really? U know when i saw the e-mail for this i thought excatly the same thing.PeZook wrote:I can hold him while you beat the crap outta him. I thought Stravo posted a new chapter when I got the e-mail...Captain_Cyran wrote: You want to die...don't you...
Touche. I see your point.
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Um...you watch the cleaned thread for updates, not this one.
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Come on! Getting the first post isn't that important.PeZook wrote:Trouble is, sometimes a new chapter lands here firstDarth Yoshi wrote:Um...you watch the cleaned thread for updates, not this one.
*Drinks more coffee and get's back to watching thread for new chapter*
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I want to thank all of you for you patience, but it has been a hectic month in terms of private time and such. Anyway I also want to give a BIG thank you to my brothers and sisters in the Writer's Guild for giving this chapter the once over before posting it here.
Chapter 56: Bounties of Light and Dark.
Kirk flinched as a blaster bolt exploded overhead. He hunched down lower behind one of the stony ‘fingers’ circling the pool of water in the center of the cave. Large crystalline formations overhead captured the light streaming from a single opening in the ceiling of the cave and glittered in an almost life like dance of light.
The crystals also caught the harsh reflections from the blaster fire and he could see the angry crimson light streaking through the crystal like lightning. He checked the power setting on his phaser and fired out in the general direction of the incoming blaster fire. He had no hope of hitting Fett but hoped to keep his head down long enough to think.
The return fire exploded around him and he winced as hot stone fragments ripped into the exposed skin of his hands.
The bounty hunter undoubtedly had a very good idea of where Kirk was hiding. If only he could get more than a general idea where Fett was positioned. He was also curious to know how the Bounty Hunter had gotten into the cave without him noticing.
“What’s this all about Fett?” Kirk asked loudly as he fired another over the shoulder shot while searching desperately for a way out of his hiding place. He knew Fett was armed with more than just blasters. If he chucked one of those thermal detonators over to him now, he would be a thick red paste on the walls and floor of this cavern.
The fact that he had not done so was a sure sign that Fett was close. Close enough so that the shock wave in this enclosed space would injure him as well even with the armor on.
Blaster fire zipped in closer to him, blasting at the edges of the stone finger, but oddly enough despite the demonstrated power of the blasters he had seen, the stone seemed oddly resilient to the attack.
He caught sight of movement to his left and spun, snapping his arm up, phaser ready to fire when he stopped short. It was Sam, crawling along the opposite side of the cavern. He turned around, rose to a low crouch and turned his head to Kirk.
Sam smiled mischievously.
“What are you doing?” Kirk mouthed.
Sam winked and disappeared behind a pile of stones.
More blaster fire exploded around him as Fett brought more fire to bear. The fact that he was not flinging grenades in his direction was a perfect indicator of how close he must be. Kirk fired a steady burst over his shoulder, swinging the phaser left to right, the intense red beam arcing our like a scythe blasting stone and rock like confetti paper.
Kirk immediately dove out from behind his hiding place and rolled off the raised altar landing hard on the cold stone floor of the cavern itself. Blaster fire followed him all the way, kicking up hot molten rock with each successive impact. Kirk took a moment to gather his senses and checked his phaser charge as his thoughts whirled looking for his options.
“Sam, be careful!” he shouted, imagining his younger brother crawling around near the armored warrior. Fett was obviously not to be trifled with.
“You think you're going to fool me with that old trick Kirk, you're sorely mistaken. I've read up on you. I know you like to bluff your way out of hopeless situations. I'm not some idiot waiting to be taken in by your tricks. This bounty is just about over and I'm not going to be another one of James Kirk's vanquished foes.”
“You could really prove me wrong by coming out from behind that rock and settling this one on one. Your rep would be untouchable if you could say that you killed James Kirk with your bare hands.” Kirk added as he slowly crawled away from where he landed. His ears perked up as he tried in vain to pinpoint Fett's position from his voice. Unfortunately the acoustics of the cavern created too many echoes for him to be precise.
Obviously Fett was not so encumbered as a storm of blaster fire chewed up the area where he had been lying only seconds ago.
The helmet must have some sort of tracking system, perhaps infrared. This was going to be even more difficult than he thought.
He aimed in the general direction of the blaster fire and let loose a long steady burst from his phaser. An explosion of stone accompanied his blast but as was becoming frustratingly obvious that he was not even hurting Fett.
“This is rather unsportsmanlike like don't you think?” Kirk asked and quickly scuttled out of position. Fett was hardly a sportsman. He was a stone cold hunter and it was becoming clear that he was almost out of options.
“Stop insulting my intelligence Kirk. Your taunts aren't going to get me to come out and face you hand to hand. It's pathetic really. I expected so much more from you.”
“I guess trying to shoot a man in the back is considered good form on your part.”
“Whatever gets the job done.” Fett replied icily and released another volley where Kirk has been moments ago, but this time the bolts quickly traversed the area towards him. Fett was adjusting his fire. Bastard was sharper than Kirk gave him credit for.
Fett smiled coldly beneath his helmet as he adjusted the range finders. He could see the briefest flicker of body heat to his right. He was moving, but would soon discover that he was running out of room. Fett was driving him towards the far wall, where he would have no more room to crawl and move. Then all it would take would be over in a hail of blaster fire.
He had to admit, this hunt had all the signs of a great challenge like his chase across the galaxy for Solo, but in the end, Kirk had put up a good chase for a brief time but now he was caught like a gundark in a box canyon. He would be glad to be out of this primitive galaxy and back home with a bounty the likes of which he had never seen before.
He heard something to his left.
His grip tightened on the blaster rifle's stock and he tensed.
“Boo!!”
“What the?!” Fett exclaimed and whirled around firing a short burst at the source of the sound, which to his trained ear sounded suspiciously like a child. His fire caught nothing, merely exploding nearby him through empty air.
Kirk's head shot up from behind a stone and fired a straight and true blast from his phaser at the Fett's silhouette. The phaser blast clipped the boulder Fett had been crouched behind and arced across like a whip.
The Bounty hunter grunted in pain as sharp shards of stone struck his armored back and the beam lanced right down to his left shoulder. There was a brief snap of metal ricocheting the energy beam and Fett went down out of view. Kirk did not hesitate and poured a withering barrage of phaser fire into the area where Fett had been a moment ago.
“This was better than we could have hoped princess.” Captain Entebbe said with a triumphant smile as the Scythia system loomed into view. A tactical plot of the system showed a direct loop towards the fourth planet of the system, as per the princess' drawing.
A squadron of X-Wing fighters zoomed past the small Nova class science vessel and formed a wedge in front in case there were any nasty surprises.
“Wedge's idea was sound. I'm so glad.” Leia replied with a worried smile. As happy as she was she could feel a sense of urgency that she could not ignore. Something was wrong. Jim was in trouble, she could almost hear a drumbeat rhythm urging her on.
The X-Wings had been waiting for the Sagan when it slipped out of Avalon. Wedge had contacted them and informed her that he had been told to help her and so he would. She had no idea how he knew but she was not about to turn down his help. Entebbe was also secretly relieved. The Sagan had survived this far into the war by the simple fact that she had been incredibly lucky and in the company of far more capable warships.
The Sagan had undergone emergency refits back at Avalon when it was decided early on that the very concept of a science vessel was now almost laughable. She was now upgraded to be something akin to a frigate, which in this blasted war meant she might be able to fight off a few Imperial fighters if that. The X-Wings were a welcome addition to this expedition in his view. They might just be able to give any Imperial party crashers a bloody nose.
The best part was Wedge's idea to seal the deal between them. The X-Wings would take a page out of Kirk's idea of using the Hyperspace ability of the Excalibur to grant hyperspace travel to his fleet. The Sagan would use her warp shell to attach to the X-Wing's hyperspace bubble like soap bubbles to one another. The Sagan would be literally dragged along with the X-Wings when they made the jump to light speed.
The journey that his navigators estimated at best could be made in 6 days was now done in under an hour.
It was beginning to look like they had arrived none too soon.
“Sir, I'm picking up trace hyperspace and warp signatures in the system.” his science officer reported.
“Go ahead.”
“I'm updating tactical plots now.”
The screen wavered for a moment and new symbols appeared on the screen. Their own course into the system was overlaid by several bright lines. One line ended abruptly over the fourth planet. The other three were straight even approaches.
“Looks like someone lost their warp shell in a most dramatic manner.” Entebbe noted.
“The runabout?” Leia pressed.
Entebbe checked his own tactical display and typed something in.
“Science, it looks like we may have something on the northern hemisphere of the planet.”
“I read some traces of duranium and tritanium. Standard Federation hull materials.”
Entebbe frowned and looked up at the princess who was standing by his command seat.
“It definitely looks like we have wreckage on the surface. Mind you we're still a ways out but the Sagan's sensors are some of the best in the Federation. Looks like we may have found our lost ship.”
“Sir, I'm not picking up any distress beacons, not even the standard emergency beacon of downed Federation ships. Whatever happened to her it looks like she was damaged badly enough to have lost all transmitting ability.” his communication's officer reported.
“Those three lines, Captain. They indicate other hyperspace capable craft?”
“That's correct princess. Looks like we're not the first ones to come to this party.”
“Good news on that front, sir. As best I can tell, those hyperspace signatures are too small to be standard Imperial craft and we know their fighters are not hyperspace capable. I estimate that these could be some form of light transports, maybe shuttles.” his science officer noted with some relief.
“Send to the squadron to keep their eyes peeled. We have company.”
“Aye Aye sir.”
“Captain, we have to hurry.” Leia said softly.
“Don't worry princess, if Captain Kirk is alive we'll get him out. I swear it.” Entebbe said with conviction. “Helm, all ahead full and let's do this by the numbers.”
“Aye sir.”
“It's damned cold!” McCoy griped as he tried to futilely raise the collar of his jacket. Spock said nothing as he checked his tricorder readings.
“We have to be careful.” Sulu added.
Chewbacca growled and spat something awful.
“Boba who?” McCoy asked blinking past the driving snow to look up at the towering wookiee.
Chewbacca replied tightly as he gripped his bow caster and stared at the familiar shape of Slave One quietly settled in under a snowdrift. The wreckage of the Runabout, aft end sticking out of a crater was beyond the ship.
Chewbacca urged the others to scan for booby traps but he was anxious. Boba Fett here could mean that he could exact revenge on the bounty hunter for all that he had done. He did not bother to question anymore the strange twists and turns of fate that brought others from his far away galaxy here. He was certain that fate had chosen this galaxy to be some sort of battle ground and Chewbacca wanted to make sure that his side would emerge victorious. But Fett's appearance here had brought back sharp memories of the price they had paid so far in this war that did not seem to have an end.
Artoo chirped excitedly.
“The universal translator seems to be catching up to the lingo my little trash can. Are you saying that there's nothing there?” McCoy asked. R2 replied with a series of affirmative whistles.
Spock snapped the tricorder closed.
“The area is clear of any traps.” he announced.
McCoy started to say something but Sulu placed a restraining hand on the Doctor's shoulder. Now was hardly the time.
Chewbacca nodded and quickly lurched ahead to cross the distance between them and the grounded runabout. He avoided Slave One, giving it wide berth. He did not wish to trigger any automatic defenses Boba Fett may have left in place.
McCoy led the others after the wookiee.
“You know Spock, I have to hand it to you, I am amazed that you picked up that trail over that planet leading here.”
Spock did not seem to react for a moment, uncertain where the doctor was going with this.
“It was a simple matter of picking up the warp trail of a damaged warp core. I surmised that the low level radiation I picked up indicating Imperial level weapons fire coupled with the particles indicating a damaged and leaking warp core I made the simple conclusion that the Captain's runabout must have come under attack and become damaged. Following the trail was not difficult, Doctor.”
They trotted together in silence for a moment.
“I couldn't have done it.” McCoy added quietly.
Spock spared the Doctor a glance.
“Then Doctor I take it that it was a good idea that I did come after all.” Spock replied neutrally.
“Well I didn't say that exactly.” McCoy replied sharply.
“Of course, Doctor.” Spock replied.
They reached the Runabout. Chewbacca was standing cautiously at the hatch, bow caster at the ready.
“I must say Artoo, I would have appreciated staying behind at the Falcon.” Threepio added as he tried to keep up with the others.
Artoo replied with a series of short derisive beeps.
“I am most certainly not a coward!” Threepio protested.
“Do you mind?” Uhura interjected softly and put a hand over Threepio's mouth. Sulu nodded curtly to Chewbacca as he drew his phaser and keyed in the open command. The back hatch snapped open and Sulu burst through phaser at the ready. Chewbacca right behind him, finger tensed on the trigger.
“Clear?” McCoy asked anxiously, hands hovering over his medpack.
Sulu peered through the dark haze, the interior of the shattered ship illuminated by a stray panel that still flickered with the last ergs of power from the ship's battery. Chewbacca growled something to Sulu.
Sulu glanced back at his large furry companion.
“I guess you wookiees see better in the dark than we humans.” Sulu noted with chagrin.
“All clear Doctor.” he called back.
McCoy rushed in.
“Jim! Jim it's McCoy!”
Spock stood at the hatch, seemingly unmoved by the scene as he flipped open his tricorder and began scanning again.
“Oh my god.” Sulu whispered in shock.
“Sulu?” McCoy paused, a cold grip closed around his heart.
“It's Chekov.” Sulu exclaimed and rushed over to the corpse lolling lifelessly still strapped into a seat. He checked his friend and the moment he touched Chekov's arm and felt it to be as cold and still as the hull around him he slowly dropped his head.
McCoy knew Chekov was dead as soon as he laid eyes on him. He checked anyway, taking the small hand held mediscanner and running it over Chekov. He quickly checked it.
“He's dead.”
Sulu shook his head and fought back the grief that threatened to overwhelm him. He gently rubbed Chekov's cheek and brushed back his hair. His eyes fell on the burned tatters of Chekov's gold shirt and the blackened flesh beneath.
“He was shot.”
“Looks like a typical blaster wound. I've seen and treated too many of these in the last few months.” McCoy frowned.
“Doctor, the Captain is not here.” Spock announced.
“Suddenly added clairvoyant to your list of abilities, Spock? We haven't finished sweeping the ship.” McCoy replied grumpily as Artoo rolled by him and whistled something mournful.
“What is it?” McCoy asked and walked over to the cockpit of the runabout.
Sulu shook his head and bit his lower lip.
“Damn you Pavel. You had to go and be heroic didn't you? You were too damned young.” Sulu whispered as he stared into the face of his dead friend.
“Blood.” McCoy noted and ran his mediscanner over the dried blood smeared against one of the pilot seats. He flipped open his tricorder and compared the readings to his mediscanner. “DNA matches Tom Paris. Looks like he was wounded badly but since he's not here we have to assume Jim got him out of here.”
“It looks as if someone got to the survival equipment.” Threepio noted with interest as he checked the various open containers and discarded survival gear.
McCoy checked a bloody splotch against an overhead council by the co-pilot's chair.
“Jim's DNA.” he concluded with concern. “Looks like he may be suffering from head trauma.”
“If he was able to rescue Tom Paris and gain access to the survival gear then he is obviously conscious.” Spock noted.
McCoy shook his head as he snapped his tricorder shut and slipped his mediscanner into a pouch at his belt.
“It's not that simple Spock. Head trauma's symptoms can be simple headaches at first and as the swelling of the brain gets worse, or the blood begins pooling in the skull it can be accompanied by hallucinations and finally death. I don't know how bad it could be if he is suffering from it at all but if he is, he's living on borrowed time unless I can get him some treatment.”
Spock nodded.
“Very well Doctor. Then let us be on our way. My tricorder picked up some residue heat signatures going in this direction.”
“Let's not waste any time.”
“You guys go on. I'll catch up.”
“Sulu?” Uhura asked as she glanced over at Chekov, never thinking she would ever see the young ensign in such a state.
“He has to be buried. I'm not going to leave him like this.” Sulu replied simply as he began to undo Chekov's straps.
“I understand, Sulu.” McCoy said softly and nodded for everyone else to leave the crippled Runabout. Artoo rolled by emitting a low plaintive whistle before leaving. McCoy stood at the hatch for a moment watching as Sulu gently lifted the dead ensign from his seat. He briefly wondered whether a similar scene was about to play out at the end of this adventure with Jim.
Kirk grunted as he leapt over one rock 'finger' and raced to the spot where Fett had been a moment ago. He had to close the distance and try to take out Fett now while he still had the advantage. He cleared a boulder and aimed his phaser down at the stunned armored warrior. Fett's left leg rocketed upward and caught Kirk's wrist sending his arm jerking backward and the phaser slipped out of his grasp flipping end over end into the darkness of the cavern.
Kirk desperately recovered as Fett rolled on his back and leveled his blaster at him. Kirk flipped backwards as a series of bolts flashed by him, he could feel the heat of their passing. He landed awkwardly and slipped and fell on to the floor.
Fett was up on his feet, one hand aiming his blaster the other reaching over to a stud on his forearm.
Kirk rolled out of the way of the next blast as he fumbled desperately in his jacket fishing for his spare phaser.
There was a sharp whoosh and a tongue of flame washed overhead. Kirk gasped in shock and managed to scramble out of the way while slapping his smoldering left thigh. Oh yeah this was a fair fight. He was essentially fighting a walking tank.
He pulled his spare phaser turned and fired.
The red beam lanced out but Fett was no longer there. The beam impacted with explosive effect against the far wall. Kirk quickly dove behind cover.
“I don't know how you did that Kirk. But you only get one shot at me.” Fett snapped. His cold exterior cracked by the odd occurrences.
“I did as much as I can Jimmy. He won't fall for the same trick twice.” Sam whispered as he suddenly appeared crouched down by Kirk.
“You did great Sam. Now if only I could find out where he's hiding now.”
Blaster fire exploded around him, reducing the stone outcropping he was hiding on to a shattered smoking ruin. Obviously the special properties of the stone by the pool were into shared by the rest of the cavern.
“Jimmy, you're not alone here. You did bring some friends.” Sam replied and winked as he scuttled away, and not surprisingly drawing fire as he did. Kirk was aware of enough now to know that Sam was not his brother, at least not in the literal sense. He was beginning to feel something else. Distress. It was flowing around him like an ocean current. He was accustomed to feeling the ebb and flow of emotion on the bridge.
He had a knack for knowing what his crew felt, whether they were angry, afraid, calm. He prided himself on knowing these emotional states but he never before felt that way about a place. The cave was distressed. At what he was not quite sure but considering how it felt about his own anger and frustration he was fairly certain the power of this place was not happy about this battle.
“Friends?” he muttered then paused and looked up at the small alcove that hung over looking the pool. McCoy and Spock stood calmly, misty and translucent but slowly solidifying as he gave them notice.
“Bones, I need to find him.”
Fett fired another volley in the general direction of the voice as he slowly maneuvered in for a surprise strike at the place where he was fairly sure Kirk was hiding. Who was he talking to? Kirk was in here alone. He was sure of it. But there was that child's voice. The one that had made him give away his position. What was that?
Was it possible that Kirk had hidden allies?
He snorted derisively at himself for such thoughts. A quick glance around the cavern with his infrared scopes revealed that the only heat signatures were he and Kirk. Of course he also noticed with some concern that his heavy fire had made many of the rocks here begin to glow hotly as well and if this gunfight continued he would lose Kirk in the background heat of the cavern.
He was about to make sure that problem would not happen.
“Jim! He's coming up on your right. He's using that rock formation that looks like a horse as cover.” McCoy exclaimed excitedly.
Kirk peered over to his right and immediately saw the rock formation McCoy had so aptly described.
He aimed carefully, fingered the power output on the phaser up a notch to make sure he went for maximum penetration at this range. He fired a quick slashing strike right to left. The crimson beam blasted through the rock with ease, the explosion of superheated stone was accompanied by a satisfying shout of surprise and pain. Kirk followed through with a rapid series of bursts as he thumbed the power down. He had to be careful the power core did not give out on him at this moment.
Fett popped up from behind the ruined stone and fired a short burst that exploded right in front of kirk, catapulting him off his feet and Kirk landed on his left shoulder, screaming in pain as he felt it come loose from the socket.
Fett activated his rocket pack and vaulted the distance between them in the blink of an eye, bringing his blaster down for the killing shot. Kirk aimed quickly and fired a wide beam shot. The blast missed most of Fett but caught the leading edge of his blaster barrel.
Fett without hesitation cast aside his ruined blaster and whipped his hand up and fired a toxic dart. Kirk was already in motion, screaming in pain as he forced himself to roll up on his bad shoulder and got to his feet as the dart skipped off the floor and richocheted into the darkness behind them.
Fett stepped and delivered a roundhouse kick connecting with the small of Kirk's back driving him into the boulder Kirk had been hiding behind. Fett quickly followed up grabbing the front of Kirk's hair and slamming his face forward into the unyielding stone. Fett jerked his face back up, blood was tricking from the corner of Kirk's mouth and from a nostril.
“Well, this is what you wanted little man. Happy?” Fett spat, ignoring the pain from his own shoulder. Despite the armor one of Kirk's phaser blasts had clipped his shoulder and blood was trickling down the side of his head where a superheated chunk of rock had glanced off his helmet. He would pay for the pain and inconvenience.
Fett slammed his head back into the stone. Kirk delivered an elbow into Fett's gut. The bounty hunter laughed in a dry rasp as he ignored the blow, most of it glancing off a plate of armor and wrapped one arm around Kirk's throat and began to squeeze and turn his head simultaneously.
Kirk struggled to breath, with his injured arm he feebly clawed at the arm around his throat and with the other he fumbled back trying to catch some purchase on Fett. Fett casually slapped Kirk's hand away as he concentrated on squeezing the life from his target. The man was putting up a tremendous struggle but Fett had all the advantages.
Kirk continued reaching back trying to avoid Fett's repelling hand as his vision began to gray out and he could feel his neck straining as Fett exerted more pressure, feeling the breaking point coming.
He slapped against a control surface. He could feel it. He gambled everything on this last desperate reach, putting all his strength in this last attempt as he felt Fett grunt triumphantly and bear down with all his weight on Kirk.
He reached out and half expected to hear his neck snap but instead was rewarded with an audible click and a roar.
“Ahhhhh!!” Fett howled angrily as his jet pack kicked on and he rocketed upwards, his grip broken by the sudden and unexpected acceleration. He crashed against the hard ceiling of the cavern and skipped off, crashing against the far wall, bouncing back up towards the ceiling.
Kirk sputtered and crashed to the floor, his shoulder throbbing unmercifully and his lungs were on fire.
“Bastard.” he spat then looked desperately for the phaser he had dropped.
“Captain I suggests that there is no time for that.” Spock suggested.
Kirk looked up just as Fett landed ungracefully in front of him and kicked out savagely to strike Kirk's head. Kirk caught the Kick with his hands and pushed hard upwards. Fett fell backwards crashing against a ruined heap of rock.
Kirk stumbled up to his feet and charged. Fett kipped up and punched out connecting with Kirk's gut. An open handed strike to his face sent Kirk stumbling backwards. Fett followed him like a panther stalking its wounded prey. Kirk regained his balance and managed to block Fett's follow through punch but could not avoid the other hand that gripped him by the shoulder and threw him like a sack of grain over his Fett's hip and into the ground with a resounding thud.
Kirk's gold shirt tore in the throw at the shoulder.
Fett tried to bring his foot down on Kirk's face. Kirk's eyes widened as he rolled out of the path of the kick but Fett did not hesitate as his foot struck the ground he simply jerked it forward right into the back of Kirk's head and smiled with satisfaction as Kirk slid forward slightly and grunted in pain.
He brought his hand up quickly and flicked the flame thrower controls.
Kirk knew what was coming and scrambled forward as the flame whooshed outward. The tongues of fire caught the drifting end of his torn shirt and survival jacket. He felt the jacket smoldering, thankfully, Starfleet fireproofed their survival gear so it did not go up like a torch.
He raced around one outcropping as he tore his jacket off and held it under his arm. Damn heat was getting to him. He was sweating like a pig and he had been nearly barbecued one time too many in his opinion.
“You can run but you can't hide Kirk. Don't prolong the inevitable.” Fett said frostily.
Kirk looked around for another option wiping the sweat from his brow. Despite the cold of this planet Fett's flame thrower had brought the temperature of this cavern up dramatically. The heat was....a thought came to him unbidden. He glanced back sharply. The entrance to the cavern was between him and Fett.
He looked up at McCoy and Spock. They nodded approvingly.
“I'm going to need a distraction and a weapon.” he whispered to them.
“I'll provide the distraction Jimmy. As for the weapon, you haven't looked hard enough.” Sam replied softly and winked at his younger brother and raced away from Kirk making as much noise as possible.
Not looking hard enough? Kirk quickly checked his pockets as he prepared to run. He had his phasers stashed, both lost, and there was nothing else he could remotely use as a weapon. He stopped as he felt something at his waist.
He smiled softly.
Better late than never. It was time to see how well he could use it.
He heard Fett race past him following the sound and fired another toxic dart after Sam.
Kirk raced by Fett towards the entrance of the cavern. Fett paused for a minute. What was going on here?! He saw Kirk racing to the entrance and turned at his waist and went to fire another dart when his dispenser clicked dry.
Lucky bastard.
Kirk disappeared through the entrance. He was making this entirely too difficult. One thing was a challenging hunt where the bounty was fast and intelligent and made him stretch his abilities, a true challenge so to speak and then there was this. A bounty that just refused to admit when it was dead and did everything and anything in its power to stay alive. There was only one word for that kind of scum.
“Pathetic.” he whispered and trotted after Kirk.
“Captain I'm picking up something odd in orbit.” Entebbe's science officer reported with concern.
“Imperial?” Entebbe asked suddenly tense.
“No sir. It looks like a ship. Whatever it is she is using some form of cloaking device to mask her signature.”
“Speculation?”
His science officer pursed her lips for a moment.
“There have been reports before the war started of the Orion syndicates using a new class of cloaking device that used a tenth on the power of a Romulan or Klingon cloak and masked readings from all but military grade sensors. The pirates had started using them extensively to harass commercial traffic on the borders of Federation space and we were bracing for them to cross the border.”
“Sort of a poor man's cloak eh?” Entebbe replied rubbing his chin. “What the hell are the Orions doing here?”
“Captain, I don't think we have much time left.” Leia calmly interjected placing a hand on his shoulder.
“You're right, princess. Science keep your eyes on that ship and let me know if it does ANYTHING. For now, I want my entire security force assembled in the transporter room on the double.” He looked up at Leia. “We're going in.”
Fett reached the entrance and paused. He peered through and used his optic sensors to magnify and search for Kirk. His other sensors were picking up some sort of low level geological instability, a low rumbling out of human ear shot. There was nothing for a moment but he caught a flash of a thermal imprint far to his right. A slow smile spread across his face.
“It's over Kirk.” He crouched low and crossed the threshold of the entrance. He aimed his wrist blaster carefully, the built in macro binoculars clicked and whirred as they focused on the target and he paused for a moment.
The heat signature was cooling.
What?
There was a loud snap hiss and a blue blade sliced down and took Fett's extended hand off at the forearm. Fett was in motion as Kirk tried to follow up with a killing stroke to lop the bounty hunter's head off but tried to be careful as he misjudged the weightless blade's momentum and the cut that took Fett's hand off continued down into the stone bridge's surface before he could recover.
Fett rolled forward and and as he straightened out he extended his other hand and a explosion of air was accompanied by a whip like chord of rope that wrapped itself around Kirk, entangling him and he grunted against the tightening grip of the chord, surprised by the sudden constriction as it reacted against his movements. He fell to his knees and struggled vainly against his sudden imprisonment.
The rumbling in the cavern had grown considerably now but Fett ignored it as he ignored the stabbing pain of his lost limb.
He said nothing as he switched controls on his wrist weapon and watched Kirk struggling, the lightsaber hummed hungrily.
“I'm going to enjoy watching you burn.” Fett hissed and activated his flame thrower control.
Kirk finally managed to fight his fear of the lightsaber blade and brought it close to his body, close enough to feel its cool light from the blade as it cut into the rope holding him. The moment the rope gave way he fell backwards as the flame washed over to him. He rolled backwards but felt his clothes burning and a strange burning sensation over his eyes. He stopped in a low crouch and brought one hand up to his face and felt over his eyes. His eyebrows were smoking. He slapped at them as he held the lightsaber up in front of him like a ward.
The bridge was rumbling now. A soft smile came to his lips. Keep using that flamer you idiot.
Fett shook his head. This man had more lives than a cat. Time to make this fight end once and for all.
Fett launched another gout of fire at Kirk to keep to force him further back an activated his jet pack. Fett took to the air and pulled out a thermal detonator from his pack. One blast and it would all be over. There would be no where left to run. He switched on the thermal detonator and prepared to pitch it to the floundering Captain.
Suddenly something loomed over him and screamed like a thousand wild beasts.
“What the?!” Fett turned his head sharply and caught sight of the massive worm like beat towering over him, mouth open with jagged rows of teeth. He instinctively went for his flame unit but threw the thermal detonator at it first.
The small metallic globe sailed right into its open mouth as he managed to activate his flame unit. The fires washed over the worm's armored carapace. It howled angrily and lunged towards him. Fett keyed more power to his rocket pack and over shot the worm as it passed over him. The wind of its passage buffeted him and he floundered in mid air.
Kirk stood by the entrance, ready to make his escape as he watched the Bounty Hunter and the worm do battle as he had planned. The smoldering survival jacket had proved invaluable in providing the required heat signature to decoy Fett. Now he just hoped that the battle went his way. If not, he was out of tricks and options.
Fett recovered in midair and eyed the fuel gauge on his rocket pack. He was running dry. Time to get to earth before he ended up plummeting to the abyss below. He landed on the edge of the bridge just as the worm turned sharply and howled at him.
Fett calmly knelt down and aimed the missile on his back at the beast. It reared up and roared but suddenly there was a deep bass rumble from within the creature and its howls became a squeal of pain. Fett smiled coldly.
“Hurts does it? Let me give you a chaser with that.”
The worm roared, mouth wide open and dove at the armored bounty hunter. Fett launched his missile. The small missile raced up and crossed the distance between the worm and Fett between the blinks of an eye. The missile ripped into the worm's mouth and exploded. The back of its armored head exploded outward like a ripe melon, yellow ichor blood and gore sprayed outwards painting the ceiling of the stone cavern.
The worm stopped short and swayed slowly, a mournful low moan coming from deep within the mortally wounded creature.
Kirk slumped in defeat against the cavern entrance. He looked down at the lightsaber activated in his hand waved it experimentally, listening to the hum and decided that there was only one way to go out. As he had always done. Fighting.
He stood proudly at the entrance and held the lightsaber over his head with one hand. The other hand lay limply at his side, unable to move it any longer, the pain from his dislocated shoulder too much for him . His torn gold command shirt was stained with his blood and burned at the edges.
“You're good, Fett. Better than anyone I've ever had the misfortune of facing.”
Fett straightened up and watched the young Captain holding the ancient weapon of the Jedi in his hands. He ignored the final death moan of the armored worm as it began to sink back into the darkness.
“Kirk, I think you're finally beginning to understand that you never stood a chance.” Fett replied coldly and began to advance on the young captain. A shadow fell over Fett and he looked up sharply in time to see the armored worm's corpse as it collapsed on top of him with a deafening thud that shook the very foundations of the stone bridge.
The stone gave way around the corpse of the fallen worm and tore away in an avalanche of rock and debris. The bounty hunter screamed all the way down into the darkness below, spinning wildly locked with the armored corpse of his last kill before disappearing out of sight until even the sounds of his screams faded away leaving only the silence.
Kirk sighed softly.
“I never want to go through that again.” he muttered.
“You did good Jimmy.” Sam offered with a smile and a soft pat on his brother's waist. Kirk smiled warmly and tousled his brother's hair.
“I couldn't have done it without you. But you're not quite human are you? You're not even my brother.” Kirk replied. The young vision of his brother laughed softly as McCoy and Spock appeared suddenly by Kirk's side.
“You did it Jim!” McCoy crowed.
“Spock?” Kirk asked seriously. If anyone was going to tell him the truth it would be Spock. Spock looked at his captain seriously for a moment before speaking.
“We are shadows from your mind Captain. Given shape by the Force.”
“The Force? You mean like Nemesis' force?”
“No, not like Nemesis' force. Equal and opposite we are. This cave is strong in the light side of the force. Now we must go. Your opposite number approaches and we cannot help you in this struggle.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Be careful Jimmy.” Sam added and gently squeezed his hand.
“Sam?”
He was suddenly alone on the stone bridge.
“Kirk.”
Kirk stopped short. He recognized the voice.
“You.” he snapped and turned to face him.
Lord Darth Nemesis strode towards him, illuminated by the crimson blade of his lightsaber. Nemesis smiled coldly.
“I've been waiting for this moment for a long time, Captain Kirk.”
Kirk lifted his lightsaber.
Chapter 56: Bounties of Light and Dark.
Kirk flinched as a blaster bolt exploded overhead. He hunched down lower behind one of the stony ‘fingers’ circling the pool of water in the center of the cave. Large crystalline formations overhead captured the light streaming from a single opening in the ceiling of the cave and glittered in an almost life like dance of light.
The crystals also caught the harsh reflections from the blaster fire and he could see the angry crimson light streaking through the crystal like lightning. He checked the power setting on his phaser and fired out in the general direction of the incoming blaster fire. He had no hope of hitting Fett but hoped to keep his head down long enough to think.
The return fire exploded around him and he winced as hot stone fragments ripped into the exposed skin of his hands.
The bounty hunter undoubtedly had a very good idea of where Kirk was hiding. If only he could get more than a general idea where Fett was positioned. He was also curious to know how the Bounty Hunter had gotten into the cave without him noticing.
“What’s this all about Fett?” Kirk asked loudly as he fired another over the shoulder shot while searching desperately for a way out of his hiding place. He knew Fett was armed with more than just blasters. If he chucked one of those thermal detonators over to him now, he would be a thick red paste on the walls and floor of this cavern.
The fact that he had not done so was a sure sign that Fett was close. Close enough so that the shock wave in this enclosed space would injure him as well even with the armor on.
Blaster fire zipped in closer to him, blasting at the edges of the stone finger, but oddly enough despite the demonstrated power of the blasters he had seen, the stone seemed oddly resilient to the attack.
He caught sight of movement to his left and spun, snapping his arm up, phaser ready to fire when he stopped short. It was Sam, crawling along the opposite side of the cavern. He turned around, rose to a low crouch and turned his head to Kirk.
Sam smiled mischievously.
“What are you doing?” Kirk mouthed.
Sam winked and disappeared behind a pile of stones.
More blaster fire exploded around him as Fett brought more fire to bear. The fact that he was not flinging grenades in his direction was a perfect indicator of how close he must be. Kirk fired a steady burst over his shoulder, swinging the phaser left to right, the intense red beam arcing our like a scythe blasting stone and rock like confetti paper.
Kirk immediately dove out from behind his hiding place and rolled off the raised altar landing hard on the cold stone floor of the cavern itself. Blaster fire followed him all the way, kicking up hot molten rock with each successive impact. Kirk took a moment to gather his senses and checked his phaser charge as his thoughts whirled looking for his options.
“Sam, be careful!” he shouted, imagining his younger brother crawling around near the armored warrior. Fett was obviously not to be trifled with.
“You think you're going to fool me with that old trick Kirk, you're sorely mistaken. I've read up on you. I know you like to bluff your way out of hopeless situations. I'm not some idiot waiting to be taken in by your tricks. This bounty is just about over and I'm not going to be another one of James Kirk's vanquished foes.”
“You could really prove me wrong by coming out from behind that rock and settling this one on one. Your rep would be untouchable if you could say that you killed James Kirk with your bare hands.” Kirk added as he slowly crawled away from where he landed. His ears perked up as he tried in vain to pinpoint Fett's position from his voice. Unfortunately the acoustics of the cavern created too many echoes for him to be precise.
Obviously Fett was not so encumbered as a storm of blaster fire chewed up the area where he had been lying only seconds ago.
The helmet must have some sort of tracking system, perhaps infrared. This was going to be even more difficult than he thought.
He aimed in the general direction of the blaster fire and let loose a long steady burst from his phaser. An explosion of stone accompanied his blast but as was becoming frustratingly obvious that he was not even hurting Fett.
“This is rather unsportsmanlike like don't you think?” Kirk asked and quickly scuttled out of position. Fett was hardly a sportsman. He was a stone cold hunter and it was becoming clear that he was almost out of options.
“Stop insulting my intelligence Kirk. Your taunts aren't going to get me to come out and face you hand to hand. It's pathetic really. I expected so much more from you.”
“I guess trying to shoot a man in the back is considered good form on your part.”
“Whatever gets the job done.” Fett replied icily and released another volley where Kirk has been moments ago, but this time the bolts quickly traversed the area towards him. Fett was adjusting his fire. Bastard was sharper than Kirk gave him credit for.
Fett smiled coldly beneath his helmet as he adjusted the range finders. He could see the briefest flicker of body heat to his right. He was moving, but would soon discover that he was running out of room. Fett was driving him towards the far wall, where he would have no more room to crawl and move. Then all it would take would be over in a hail of blaster fire.
He had to admit, this hunt had all the signs of a great challenge like his chase across the galaxy for Solo, but in the end, Kirk had put up a good chase for a brief time but now he was caught like a gundark in a box canyon. He would be glad to be out of this primitive galaxy and back home with a bounty the likes of which he had never seen before.
He heard something to his left.
His grip tightened on the blaster rifle's stock and he tensed.
“Boo!!”
“What the?!” Fett exclaimed and whirled around firing a short burst at the source of the sound, which to his trained ear sounded suspiciously like a child. His fire caught nothing, merely exploding nearby him through empty air.
Kirk's head shot up from behind a stone and fired a straight and true blast from his phaser at the Fett's silhouette. The phaser blast clipped the boulder Fett had been crouched behind and arced across like a whip.
The Bounty hunter grunted in pain as sharp shards of stone struck his armored back and the beam lanced right down to his left shoulder. There was a brief snap of metal ricocheting the energy beam and Fett went down out of view. Kirk did not hesitate and poured a withering barrage of phaser fire into the area where Fett had been a moment ago.
“This was better than we could have hoped princess.” Captain Entebbe said with a triumphant smile as the Scythia system loomed into view. A tactical plot of the system showed a direct loop towards the fourth planet of the system, as per the princess' drawing.
A squadron of X-Wing fighters zoomed past the small Nova class science vessel and formed a wedge in front in case there were any nasty surprises.
“Wedge's idea was sound. I'm so glad.” Leia replied with a worried smile. As happy as she was she could feel a sense of urgency that she could not ignore. Something was wrong. Jim was in trouble, she could almost hear a drumbeat rhythm urging her on.
The X-Wings had been waiting for the Sagan when it slipped out of Avalon. Wedge had contacted them and informed her that he had been told to help her and so he would. She had no idea how he knew but she was not about to turn down his help. Entebbe was also secretly relieved. The Sagan had survived this far into the war by the simple fact that she had been incredibly lucky and in the company of far more capable warships.
The Sagan had undergone emergency refits back at Avalon when it was decided early on that the very concept of a science vessel was now almost laughable. She was now upgraded to be something akin to a frigate, which in this blasted war meant she might be able to fight off a few Imperial fighters if that. The X-Wings were a welcome addition to this expedition in his view. They might just be able to give any Imperial party crashers a bloody nose.
The best part was Wedge's idea to seal the deal between them. The X-Wings would take a page out of Kirk's idea of using the Hyperspace ability of the Excalibur to grant hyperspace travel to his fleet. The Sagan would use her warp shell to attach to the X-Wing's hyperspace bubble like soap bubbles to one another. The Sagan would be literally dragged along with the X-Wings when they made the jump to light speed.
The journey that his navigators estimated at best could be made in 6 days was now done in under an hour.
It was beginning to look like they had arrived none too soon.
“Sir, I'm picking up trace hyperspace and warp signatures in the system.” his science officer reported.
“Go ahead.”
“I'm updating tactical plots now.”
The screen wavered for a moment and new symbols appeared on the screen. Their own course into the system was overlaid by several bright lines. One line ended abruptly over the fourth planet. The other three were straight even approaches.
“Looks like someone lost their warp shell in a most dramatic manner.” Entebbe noted.
“The runabout?” Leia pressed.
Entebbe checked his own tactical display and typed something in.
“Science, it looks like we may have something on the northern hemisphere of the planet.”
“I read some traces of duranium and tritanium. Standard Federation hull materials.”
Entebbe frowned and looked up at the princess who was standing by his command seat.
“It definitely looks like we have wreckage on the surface. Mind you we're still a ways out but the Sagan's sensors are some of the best in the Federation. Looks like we may have found our lost ship.”
“Sir, I'm not picking up any distress beacons, not even the standard emergency beacon of downed Federation ships. Whatever happened to her it looks like she was damaged badly enough to have lost all transmitting ability.” his communication's officer reported.
“Those three lines, Captain. They indicate other hyperspace capable craft?”
“That's correct princess. Looks like we're not the first ones to come to this party.”
“Good news on that front, sir. As best I can tell, those hyperspace signatures are too small to be standard Imperial craft and we know their fighters are not hyperspace capable. I estimate that these could be some form of light transports, maybe shuttles.” his science officer noted with some relief.
“Send to the squadron to keep their eyes peeled. We have company.”
“Aye Aye sir.”
“Captain, we have to hurry.” Leia said softly.
“Don't worry princess, if Captain Kirk is alive we'll get him out. I swear it.” Entebbe said with conviction. “Helm, all ahead full and let's do this by the numbers.”
“Aye sir.”
“It's damned cold!” McCoy griped as he tried to futilely raise the collar of his jacket. Spock said nothing as he checked his tricorder readings.
“We have to be careful.” Sulu added.
Chewbacca growled and spat something awful.
“Boba who?” McCoy asked blinking past the driving snow to look up at the towering wookiee.
Chewbacca replied tightly as he gripped his bow caster and stared at the familiar shape of Slave One quietly settled in under a snowdrift. The wreckage of the Runabout, aft end sticking out of a crater was beyond the ship.
Chewbacca urged the others to scan for booby traps but he was anxious. Boba Fett here could mean that he could exact revenge on the bounty hunter for all that he had done. He did not bother to question anymore the strange twists and turns of fate that brought others from his far away galaxy here. He was certain that fate had chosen this galaxy to be some sort of battle ground and Chewbacca wanted to make sure that his side would emerge victorious. But Fett's appearance here had brought back sharp memories of the price they had paid so far in this war that did not seem to have an end.
Artoo chirped excitedly.
“The universal translator seems to be catching up to the lingo my little trash can. Are you saying that there's nothing there?” McCoy asked. R2 replied with a series of affirmative whistles.
Spock snapped the tricorder closed.
“The area is clear of any traps.” he announced.
McCoy started to say something but Sulu placed a restraining hand on the Doctor's shoulder. Now was hardly the time.
Chewbacca nodded and quickly lurched ahead to cross the distance between them and the grounded runabout. He avoided Slave One, giving it wide berth. He did not wish to trigger any automatic defenses Boba Fett may have left in place.
McCoy led the others after the wookiee.
“You know Spock, I have to hand it to you, I am amazed that you picked up that trail over that planet leading here.”
Spock did not seem to react for a moment, uncertain where the doctor was going with this.
“It was a simple matter of picking up the warp trail of a damaged warp core. I surmised that the low level radiation I picked up indicating Imperial level weapons fire coupled with the particles indicating a damaged and leaking warp core I made the simple conclusion that the Captain's runabout must have come under attack and become damaged. Following the trail was not difficult, Doctor.”
They trotted together in silence for a moment.
“I couldn't have done it.” McCoy added quietly.
Spock spared the Doctor a glance.
“Then Doctor I take it that it was a good idea that I did come after all.” Spock replied neutrally.
“Well I didn't say that exactly.” McCoy replied sharply.
“Of course, Doctor.” Spock replied.
They reached the Runabout. Chewbacca was standing cautiously at the hatch, bow caster at the ready.
“I must say Artoo, I would have appreciated staying behind at the Falcon.” Threepio added as he tried to keep up with the others.
Artoo replied with a series of short derisive beeps.
“I am most certainly not a coward!” Threepio protested.
“Do you mind?” Uhura interjected softly and put a hand over Threepio's mouth. Sulu nodded curtly to Chewbacca as he drew his phaser and keyed in the open command. The back hatch snapped open and Sulu burst through phaser at the ready. Chewbacca right behind him, finger tensed on the trigger.
“Clear?” McCoy asked anxiously, hands hovering over his medpack.
Sulu peered through the dark haze, the interior of the shattered ship illuminated by a stray panel that still flickered with the last ergs of power from the ship's battery. Chewbacca growled something to Sulu.
Sulu glanced back at his large furry companion.
“I guess you wookiees see better in the dark than we humans.” Sulu noted with chagrin.
“All clear Doctor.” he called back.
McCoy rushed in.
“Jim! Jim it's McCoy!”
Spock stood at the hatch, seemingly unmoved by the scene as he flipped open his tricorder and began scanning again.
“Oh my god.” Sulu whispered in shock.
“Sulu?” McCoy paused, a cold grip closed around his heart.
“It's Chekov.” Sulu exclaimed and rushed over to the corpse lolling lifelessly still strapped into a seat. He checked his friend and the moment he touched Chekov's arm and felt it to be as cold and still as the hull around him he slowly dropped his head.
McCoy knew Chekov was dead as soon as he laid eyes on him. He checked anyway, taking the small hand held mediscanner and running it over Chekov. He quickly checked it.
“He's dead.”
Sulu shook his head and fought back the grief that threatened to overwhelm him. He gently rubbed Chekov's cheek and brushed back his hair. His eyes fell on the burned tatters of Chekov's gold shirt and the blackened flesh beneath.
“He was shot.”
“Looks like a typical blaster wound. I've seen and treated too many of these in the last few months.” McCoy frowned.
“Doctor, the Captain is not here.” Spock announced.
“Suddenly added clairvoyant to your list of abilities, Spock? We haven't finished sweeping the ship.” McCoy replied grumpily as Artoo rolled by him and whistled something mournful.
“What is it?” McCoy asked and walked over to the cockpit of the runabout.
Sulu shook his head and bit his lower lip.
“Damn you Pavel. You had to go and be heroic didn't you? You were too damned young.” Sulu whispered as he stared into the face of his dead friend.
“Blood.” McCoy noted and ran his mediscanner over the dried blood smeared against one of the pilot seats. He flipped open his tricorder and compared the readings to his mediscanner. “DNA matches Tom Paris. Looks like he was wounded badly but since he's not here we have to assume Jim got him out of here.”
“It looks as if someone got to the survival equipment.” Threepio noted with interest as he checked the various open containers and discarded survival gear.
McCoy checked a bloody splotch against an overhead council by the co-pilot's chair.
“Jim's DNA.” he concluded with concern. “Looks like he may be suffering from head trauma.”
“If he was able to rescue Tom Paris and gain access to the survival gear then he is obviously conscious.” Spock noted.
McCoy shook his head as he snapped his tricorder shut and slipped his mediscanner into a pouch at his belt.
“It's not that simple Spock. Head trauma's symptoms can be simple headaches at first and as the swelling of the brain gets worse, or the blood begins pooling in the skull it can be accompanied by hallucinations and finally death. I don't know how bad it could be if he is suffering from it at all but if he is, he's living on borrowed time unless I can get him some treatment.”
Spock nodded.
“Very well Doctor. Then let us be on our way. My tricorder picked up some residue heat signatures going in this direction.”
“Let's not waste any time.”
“You guys go on. I'll catch up.”
“Sulu?” Uhura asked as she glanced over at Chekov, never thinking she would ever see the young ensign in such a state.
“He has to be buried. I'm not going to leave him like this.” Sulu replied simply as he began to undo Chekov's straps.
“I understand, Sulu.” McCoy said softly and nodded for everyone else to leave the crippled Runabout. Artoo rolled by emitting a low plaintive whistle before leaving. McCoy stood at the hatch for a moment watching as Sulu gently lifted the dead ensign from his seat. He briefly wondered whether a similar scene was about to play out at the end of this adventure with Jim.
Kirk grunted as he leapt over one rock 'finger' and raced to the spot where Fett had been a moment ago. He had to close the distance and try to take out Fett now while he still had the advantage. He cleared a boulder and aimed his phaser down at the stunned armored warrior. Fett's left leg rocketed upward and caught Kirk's wrist sending his arm jerking backward and the phaser slipped out of his grasp flipping end over end into the darkness of the cavern.
Kirk desperately recovered as Fett rolled on his back and leveled his blaster at him. Kirk flipped backwards as a series of bolts flashed by him, he could feel the heat of their passing. He landed awkwardly and slipped and fell on to the floor.
Fett was up on his feet, one hand aiming his blaster the other reaching over to a stud on his forearm.
Kirk rolled out of the way of the next blast as he fumbled desperately in his jacket fishing for his spare phaser.
There was a sharp whoosh and a tongue of flame washed overhead. Kirk gasped in shock and managed to scramble out of the way while slapping his smoldering left thigh. Oh yeah this was a fair fight. He was essentially fighting a walking tank.
He pulled his spare phaser turned and fired.
The red beam lanced out but Fett was no longer there. The beam impacted with explosive effect against the far wall. Kirk quickly dove behind cover.
“I don't know how you did that Kirk. But you only get one shot at me.” Fett snapped. His cold exterior cracked by the odd occurrences.
“I did as much as I can Jimmy. He won't fall for the same trick twice.” Sam whispered as he suddenly appeared crouched down by Kirk.
“You did great Sam. Now if only I could find out where he's hiding now.”
Blaster fire exploded around him, reducing the stone outcropping he was hiding on to a shattered smoking ruin. Obviously the special properties of the stone by the pool were into shared by the rest of the cavern.
“Jimmy, you're not alone here. You did bring some friends.” Sam replied and winked as he scuttled away, and not surprisingly drawing fire as he did. Kirk was aware of enough now to know that Sam was not his brother, at least not in the literal sense. He was beginning to feel something else. Distress. It was flowing around him like an ocean current. He was accustomed to feeling the ebb and flow of emotion on the bridge.
He had a knack for knowing what his crew felt, whether they were angry, afraid, calm. He prided himself on knowing these emotional states but he never before felt that way about a place. The cave was distressed. At what he was not quite sure but considering how it felt about his own anger and frustration he was fairly certain the power of this place was not happy about this battle.
“Friends?” he muttered then paused and looked up at the small alcove that hung over looking the pool. McCoy and Spock stood calmly, misty and translucent but slowly solidifying as he gave them notice.
“Bones, I need to find him.”
Fett fired another volley in the general direction of the voice as he slowly maneuvered in for a surprise strike at the place where he was fairly sure Kirk was hiding. Who was he talking to? Kirk was in here alone. He was sure of it. But there was that child's voice. The one that had made him give away his position. What was that?
Was it possible that Kirk had hidden allies?
He snorted derisively at himself for such thoughts. A quick glance around the cavern with his infrared scopes revealed that the only heat signatures were he and Kirk. Of course he also noticed with some concern that his heavy fire had made many of the rocks here begin to glow hotly as well and if this gunfight continued he would lose Kirk in the background heat of the cavern.
He was about to make sure that problem would not happen.
“Jim! He's coming up on your right. He's using that rock formation that looks like a horse as cover.” McCoy exclaimed excitedly.
Kirk peered over to his right and immediately saw the rock formation McCoy had so aptly described.
He aimed carefully, fingered the power output on the phaser up a notch to make sure he went for maximum penetration at this range. He fired a quick slashing strike right to left. The crimson beam blasted through the rock with ease, the explosion of superheated stone was accompanied by a satisfying shout of surprise and pain. Kirk followed through with a rapid series of bursts as he thumbed the power down. He had to be careful the power core did not give out on him at this moment.
Fett popped up from behind the ruined stone and fired a short burst that exploded right in front of kirk, catapulting him off his feet and Kirk landed on his left shoulder, screaming in pain as he felt it come loose from the socket.
Fett activated his rocket pack and vaulted the distance between them in the blink of an eye, bringing his blaster down for the killing shot. Kirk aimed quickly and fired a wide beam shot. The blast missed most of Fett but caught the leading edge of his blaster barrel.
Fett without hesitation cast aside his ruined blaster and whipped his hand up and fired a toxic dart. Kirk was already in motion, screaming in pain as he forced himself to roll up on his bad shoulder and got to his feet as the dart skipped off the floor and richocheted into the darkness behind them.
Fett stepped and delivered a roundhouse kick connecting with the small of Kirk's back driving him into the boulder Kirk had been hiding behind. Fett quickly followed up grabbing the front of Kirk's hair and slamming his face forward into the unyielding stone. Fett jerked his face back up, blood was tricking from the corner of Kirk's mouth and from a nostril.
“Well, this is what you wanted little man. Happy?” Fett spat, ignoring the pain from his own shoulder. Despite the armor one of Kirk's phaser blasts had clipped his shoulder and blood was trickling down the side of his head where a superheated chunk of rock had glanced off his helmet. He would pay for the pain and inconvenience.
Fett slammed his head back into the stone. Kirk delivered an elbow into Fett's gut. The bounty hunter laughed in a dry rasp as he ignored the blow, most of it glancing off a plate of armor and wrapped one arm around Kirk's throat and began to squeeze and turn his head simultaneously.
Kirk struggled to breath, with his injured arm he feebly clawed at the arm around his throat and with the other he fumbled back trying to catch some purchase on Fett. Fett casually slapped Kirk's hand away as he concentrated on squeezing the life from his target. The man was putting up a tremendous struggle but Fett had all the advantages.
Kirk continued reaching back trying to avoid Fett's repelling hand as his vision began to gray out and he could feel his neck straining as Fett exerted more pressure, feeling the breaking point coming.
He slapped against a control surface. He could feel it. He gambled everything on this last desperate reach, putting all his strength in this last attempt as he felt Fett grunt triumphantly and bear down with all his weight on Kirk.
He reached out and half expected to hear his neck snap but instead was rewarded with an audible click and a roar.
“Ahhhhh!!” Fett howled angrily as his jet pack kicked on and he rocketed upwards, his grip broken by the sudden and unexpected acceleration. He crashed against the hard ceiling of the cavern and skipped off, crashing against the far wall, bouncing back up towards the ceiling.
Kirk sputtered and crashed to the floor, his shoulder throbbing unmercifully and his lungs were on fire.
“Bastard.” he spat then looked desperately for the phaser he had dropped.
“Captain I suggests that there is no time for that.” Spock suggested.
Kirk looked up just as Fett landed ungracefully in front of him and kicked out savagely to strike Kirk's head. Kirk caught the Kick with his hands and pushed hard upwards. Fett fell backwards crashing against a ruined heap of rock.
Kirk stumbled up to his feet and charged. Fett kipped up and punched out connecting with Kirk's gut. An open handed strike to his face sent Kirk stumbling backwards. Fett followed him like a panther stalking its wounded prey. Kirk regained his balance and managed to block Fett's follow through punch but could not avoid the other hand that gripped him by the shoulder and threw him like a sack of grain over his Fett's hip and into the ground with a resounding thud.
Kirk's gold shirt tore in the throw at the shoulder.
Fett tried to bring his foot down on Kirk's face. Kirk's eyes widened as he rolled out of the path of the kick but Fett did not hesitate as his foot struck the ground he simply jerked it forward right into the back of Kirk's head and smiled with satisfaction as Kirk slid forward slightly and grunted in pain.
He brought his hand up quickly and flicked the flame thrower controls.
Kirk knew what was coming and scrambled forward as the flame whooshed outward. The tongues of fire caught the drifting end of his torn shirt and survival jacket. He felt the jacket smoldering, thankfully, Starfleet fireproofed their survival gear so it did not go up like a torch.
He raced around one outcropping as he tore his jacket off and held it under his arm. Damn heat was getting to him. He was sweating like a pig and he had been nearly barbecued one time too many in his opinion.
“You can run but you can't hide Kirk. Don't prolong the inevitable.” Fett said frostily.
Kirk looked around for another option wiping the sweat from his brow. Despite the cold of this planet Fett's flame thrower had brought the temperature of this cavern up dramatically. The heat was....a thought came to him unbidden. He glanced back sharply. The entrance to the cavern was between him and Fett.
He looked up at McCoy and Spock. They nodded approvingly.
“I'm going to need a distraction and a weapon.” he whispered to them.
“I'll provide the distraction Jimmy. As for the weapon, you haven't looked hard enough.” Sam replied softly and winked at his younger brother and raced away from Kirk making as much noise as possible.
Not looking hard enough? Kirk quickly checked his pockets as he prepared to run. He had his phasers stashed, both lost, and there was nothing else he could remotely use as a weapon. He stopped as he felt something at his waist.
He smiled softly.
Better late than never. It was time to see how well he could use it.
He heard Fett race past him following the sound and fired another toxic dart after Sam.
Kirk raced by Fett towards the entrance of the cavern. Fett paused for a minute. What was going on here?! He saw Kirk racing to the entrance and turned at his waist and went to fire another dart when his dispenser clicked dry.
Lucky bastard.
Kirk disappeared through the entrance. He was making this entirely too difficult. One thing was a challenging hunt where the bounty was fast and intelligent and made him stretch his abilities, a true challenge so to speak and then there was this. A bounty that just refused to admit when it was dead and did everything and anything in its power to stay alive. There was only one word for that kind of scum.
“Pathetic.” he whispered and trotted after Kirk.
“Captain I'm picking up something odd in orbit.” Entebbe's science officer reported with concern.
“Imperial?” Entebbe asked suddenly tense.
“No sir. It looks like a ship. Whatever it is she is using some form of cloaking device to mask her signature.”
“Speculation?”
His science officer pursed her lips for a moment.
“There have been reports before the war started of the Orion syndicates using a new class of cloaking device that used a tenth on the power of a Romulan or Klingon cloak and masked readings from all but military grade sensors. The pirates had started using them extensively to harass commercial traffic on the borders of Federation space and we were bracing for them to cross the border.”
“Sort of a poor man's cloak eh?” Entebbe replied rubbing his chin. “What the hell are the Orions doing here?”
“Captain, I don't think we have much time left.” Leia calmly interjected placing a hand on his shoulder.
“You're right, princess. Science keep your eyes on that ship and let me know if it does ANYTHING. For now, I want my entire security force assembled in the transporter room on the double.” He looked up at Leia. “We're going in.”
Fett reached the entrance and paused. He peered through and used his optic sensors to magnify and search for Kirk. His other sensors were picking up some sort of low level geological instability, a low rumbling out of human ear shot. There was nothing for a moment but he caught a flash of a thermal imprint far to his right. A slow smile spread across his face.
“It's over Kirk.” He crouched low and crossed the threshold of the entrance. He aimed his wrist blaster carefully, the built in macro binoculars clicked and whirred as they focused on the target and he paused for a moment.
The heat signature was cooling.
What?
There was a loud snap hiss and a blue blade sliced down and took Fett's extended hand off at the forearm. Fett was in motion as Kirk tried to follow up with a killing stroke to lop the bounty hunter's head off but tried to be careful as he misjudged the weightless blade's momentum and the cut that took Fett's hand off continued down into the stone bridge's surface before he could recover.
Fett rolled forward and and as he straightened out he extended his other hand and a explosion of air was accompanied by a whip like chord of rope that wrapped itself around Kirk, entangling him and he grunted against the tightening grip of the chord, surprised by the sudden constriction as it reacted against his movements. He fell to his knees and struggled vainly against his sudden imprisonment.
The rumbling in the cavern had grown considerably now but Fett ignored it as he ignored the stabbing pain of his lost limb.
He said nothing as he switched controls on his wrist weapon and watched Kirk struggling, the lightsaber hummed hungrily.
“I'm going to enjoy watching you burn.” Fett hissed and activated his flame thrower control.
Kirk finally managed to fight his fear of the lightsaber blade and brought it close to his body, close enough to feel its cool light from the blade as it cut into the rope holding him. The moment the rope gave way he fell backwards as the flame washed over to him. He rolled backwards but felt his clothes burning and a strange burning sensation over his eyes. He stopped in a low crouch and brought one hand up to his face and felt over his eyes. His eyebrows were smoking. He slapped at them as he held the lightsaber up in front of him like a ward.
The bridge was rumbling now. A soft smile came to his lips. Keep using that flamer you idiot.
Fett shook his head. This man had more lives than a cat. Time to make this fight end once and for all.
Fett launched another gout of fire at Kirk to keep to force him further back an activated his jet pack. Fett took to the air and pulled out a thermal detonator from his pack. One blast and it would all be over. There would be no where left to run. He switched on the thermal detonator and prepared to pitch it to the floundering Captain.
Suddenly something loomed over him and screamed like a thousand wild beasts.
“What the?!” Fett turned his head sharply and caught sight of the massive worm like beat towering over him, mouth open with jagged rows of teeth. He instinctively went for his flame unit but threw the thermal detonator at it first.
The small metallic globe sailed right into its open mouth as he managed to activate his flame unit. The fires washed over the worm's armored carapace. It howled angrily and lunged towards him. Fett keyed more power to his rocket pack and over shot the worm as it passed over him. The wind of its passage buffeted him and he floundered in mid air.
Kirk stood by the entrance, ready to make his escape as he watched the Bounty Hunter and the worm do battle as he had planned. The smoldering survival jacket had proved invaluable in providing the required heat signature to decoy Fett. Now he just hoped that the battle went his way. If not, he was out of tricks and options.
Fett recovered in midair and eyed the fuel gauge on his rocket pack. He was running dry. Time to get to earth before he ended up plummeting to the abyss below. He landed on the edge of the bridge just as the worm turned sharply and howled at him.
Fett calmly knelt down and aimed the missile on his back at the beast. It reared up and roared but suddenly there was a deep bass rumble from within the creature and its howls became a squeal of pain. Fett smiled coldly.
“Hurts does it? Let me give you a chaser with that.”
The worm roared, mouth wide open and dove at the armored bounty hunter. Fett launched his missile. The small missile raced up and crossed the distance between the worm and Fett between the blinks of an eye. The missile ripped into the worm's mouth and exploded. The back of its armored head exploded outward like a ripe melon, yellow ichor blood and gore sprayed outwards painting the ceiling of the stone cavern.
The worm stopped short and swayed slowly, a mournful low moan coming from deep within the mortally wounded creature.
Kirk slumped in defeat against the cavern entrance. He looked down at the lightsaber activated in his hand waved it experimentally, listening to the hum and decided that there was only one way to go out. As he had always done. Fighting.
He stood proudly at the entrance and held the lightsaber over his head with one hand. The other hand lay limply at his side, unable to move it any longer, the pain from his dislocated shoulder too much for him . His torn gold command shirt was stained with his blood and burned at the edges.
“You're good, Fett. Better than anyone I've ever had the misfortune of facing.”
Fett straightened up and watched the young Captain holding the ancient weapon of the Jedi in his hands. He ignored the final death moan of the armored worm as it began to sink back into the darkness.
“Kirk, I think you're finally beginning to understand that you never stood a chance.” Fett replied coldly and began to advance on the young captain. A shadow fell over Fett and he looked up sharply in time to see the armored worm's corpse as it collapsed on top of him with a deafening thud that shook the very foundations of the stone bridge.
The stone gave way around the corpse of the fallen worm and tore away in an avalanche of rock and debris. The bounty hunter screamed all the way down into the darkness below, spinning wildly locked with the armored corpse of his last kill before disappearing out of sight until even the sounds of his screams faded away leaving only the silence.
Kirk sighed softly.
“I never want to go through that again.” he muttered.
“You did good Jimmy.” Sam offered with a smile and a soft pat on his brother's waist. Kirk smiled warmly and tousled his brother's hair.
“I couldn't have done it without you. But you're not quite human are you? You're not even my brother.” Kirk replied. The young vision of his brother laughed softly as McCoy and Spock appeared suddenly by Kirk's side.
“You did it Jim!” McCoy crowed.
“Spock?” Kirk asked seriously. If anyone was going to tell him the truth it would be Spock. Spock looked at his captain seriously for a moment before speaking.
“We are shadows from your mind Captain. Given shape by the Force.”
“The Force? You mean like Nemesis' force?”
“No, not like Nemesis' force. Equal and opposite we are. This cave is strong in the light side of the force. Now we must go. Your opposite number approaches and we cannot help you in this struggle.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Be careful Jimmy.” Sam added and gently squeezed his hand.
“Sam?”
He was suddenly alone on the stone bridge.
“Kirk.”
Kirk stopped short. He recognized the voice.
“You.” he snapped and turned to face him.
Lord Darth Nemesis strode towards him, illuminated by the crimson blade of his lightsaber. Nemesis smiled coldly.
“I've been waiting for this moment for a long time, Captain Kirk.”
Kirk lifted his lightsaber.
Wherever you go, there you are.
Ripped Shirt Monkey - BOTMWriter's Guild Cybertron's Finest Justice League
This updated sig brought to you by JME2
Ripped Shirt Monkey - BOTMWriter's Guild Cybertron's Finest Justice League
This updated sig brought to you by JME2
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Darth Garden Gnome
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YES!! NEW CHAPTER!!! FIRST POST!!! NOW TO READ!!! THIS IS GONNA BE AWESOME!!!
EDIT: Ahh, good 'ol shootout at the OK Corral...Frozen Stone Cave...Whatever. Poor Fett thought, killed by a collapsing worm; he always dies in the silliest ways.
And now I imagine we'll have Kirk, Spock (the real one!), McCoy, Leia, Chewie, ect. vs. Nemesis. Gonna be one heck of a showdown.
EDIT: Ahh, good 'ol shootout at the OK Corral...Frozen Stone Cave...Whatever. Poor Fett thought, killed by a collapsing worm; he always dies in the silliest ways.
And now I imagine we'll have Kirk, Spock (the real one!), McCoy, Leia, Chewie, ect. vs. Nemesis. Gonna be one heck of a showdown.
Last edited by Darth Garden Gnome on 2003-09-02 12:32am, edited 1 time in total.
Leader of the Secret Gnome Revolution
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Ghost Rider
- Spirit of Vengeance
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Very nice...though suspecting that the ending is similar to a certain dagobah scene.
MM /CF/WG/BOTM/JL/Original Warsie/ACPATHNTDWATGODW FOREVER!!
Sometimes we can choose the path we follow. Sometimes our choices are made for us. And sometimes we have no choice at all
Saying and doing are chocolate and concrete
Sometimes we can choose the path we follow. Sometimes our choices are made for us. And sometimes we have no choice at all
Saying and doing are chocolate and concrete
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Stuart Mackey
- Drunken Kiwi Editor of the ASVS Press
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Very good...I eagerly anticipate the next installment...soon, very soon...Stravo wrote:I want to thank all of you for you patience, but it has been a hectic month in terms of private time and such. Anyway I also want to give a BIG thank you to my brothers and sisters in the Writer's Guild for giving this chapter the once over before posting it here.
Chapter 56: Bounties of Light and Dark.
snip
Via money Europe could become political in five years" "... the current communities should be completed by a Finance Common Market which would lead us to European economic unity. Only then would ... the mutual commitments make it fairly easy to produce the political union which is the goal"
Jean Omer Marie Gabriel Monnet
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Jean Omer Marie Gabriel Monnet
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I had figured Nemesis was going to show up and avenge Han by taking out Fett while Kirk ran for it.
Course now there is an untrained man wielding a massless blade against a fully trained sith lord.
Course now there is an untrained man wielding a massless blade against a fully trained sith lord.
بيرني كان سيفوز
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Nuclear Navy Warwolf
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in omnibus requiem quaesivi, et nusquam inveni nisi in angulo cum libro
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ipsa scientia potestas est
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Nuclear Navy Warwolf
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in omnibus requiem quaesivi, et nusquam inveni nisi in angulo cum libro
*
ipsa scientia potestas est
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Crayz9000
- Sith Apprentice
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You mean an untrained Kirk with a ripped shirt wielding a massless blade against a fully trained Sith Lord... 
A Tribute to Stupidity: The Robert Scott Anderson Archive (currently offline)
John Hansen - Slightly Insane Bounty Hunter - ASVS Vets' Assoc. Class of 2000
HAB Cryptanalyst | WG - Intergalactic Alliance and Spoof Author | BotM | Cybertron | SCEF
John Hansen - Slightly Insane Bounty Hunter - ASVS Vets' Assoc. Class of 2000
HAB Cryptanalyst | WG - Intergalactic Alliance and Spoof Author | BotM | Cybertron | SCEF