CHAPTER XII: INTO THE TYRENGA PIT

“At last, sighed Lord Rexor, the mighty Ligris and our trophy Lady Kaliah. Well done!” Ligris bowed and spoke boldly to the Dark Master, “Lord Rexor your contract is fulfilled, I expect to be paid and returned to my ship,” “Of course, 1,000,000 Yaros was it?” “Ah, here comes K-LOK my personal droid- it will make all the arrangements.”

But K-LOK was bringing disturbing news, “MASTER, AN UNREGISTERED CENTURION FALCON HAS ENTERED HAEL ON AUTO-PILOT ILLEGALLY WITH NO LIFE FORMS ABOARD. SUPREME COMMANDER KYLLER SHOULD HAVE DESTROYED IT, BUT INSTEAD DIVERTED IT TO HIS PERSONAL RESIDENCE IN THE CITY. THE VESSEL IS CONTAMINATED WITH TRICHLORIPHINE GAS AND SHOULD BE DESTROYED IMMEDIATELY. IT POSES A DANGER TO OUR PEOPLE. WHAT ARE YOUR ORDERS?”

Lord Rexor rose in a fury. All eyes were on Ligris who suddenly felt uneasy about the situation. Acting on instinct, Ligris raised his Black Wave weapon but was quickly disarmed by the Kyries who also confiscated his Seed Knife and Coanda Launcher. He faced a circle of Hailstorm rifles. Angrily he protested, “No one goes back on a contract with me. I have nothing to do with this vessel nor its contents.”

But Lord Rexor was unconvinced and shouted back, “YOU DARE RAISE YOUR VOICE TO ME KRAAL HUNTER? YOU ARE WORKING FOR ELYSIA. YOU INTENDED TO GET PAID HERE AND THEN GAS OUR PEOPLE WHILE YOU STOLE HER BACK AND RETURNED HER TO THE QUEEN FOR AN EVEN LARGER REWARD, YOU GREEDY MONGREL!!!”

Even as Lord Rexor made the false accusations the K-LOK was reporting more ominous facts, “MASTER, THAT VESSEL HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS BEING DOCKED ON BALAIREON AT THE SAME TIME AS LIGRIS’ ISTR-1200, BOTH REFUELING IN TWO DOCKS IN CLOSE PROXIMIETY. I SUGGEST THAT LIGRIS HIMSELF DESTROYED HIS OWN SHIP IN ORDER TO USE THE ISR-1099 TO INFILTRATE OUR PLANET AND SPY ON US FOR ELYSIA. HE HAS SEEN OUR TROOP CONCENTRATIONS AND WARSHIPS. HIS PRISONER WAS ALSO NOT UNDER RESTRAINTS WHEN HE BROUGHT HER TO US AND WE CANNOT READ HER MIND BECAUSE HE HAS GIVEN HER A NEURAL NEUTRALIZER. LIGRIS IS A TRAITOR TO THE SITH”.

At this the entire auditorium rose with anger and demanded Ligris be killed on the spot. Lord Rexor sat back on his Levitating Throne and pushed a button on the left arm rest. Below the Great Balcony and ringed interior stadium seating the crowd watched as the floor plates retracted and a large pit was revealed. Three hungry Tyrengas were released into “The Pit” below. As Lord Rexor nodded Ligris was pushed back towards the balcony railing. Syrenia watched with great pleasure as she tied the still unconscious Lady Kaliah to Lectropoles nearby. Syrenia carried with her a Fire Whip and snapped it un-powered in Ligris direction.

I’m going to kill them, I’m going to kill them all… and then Ligris lurched forward and grabbed several of the Kyries’ guns, hurling two soldiers over the balcony railing to their deaths. He crushed to death two others and smashed the heads of two more. Lord Rexor ordered Ligris killed but the Kraal was slaying the Kyries two by two. They fired their Hailstorms to no effect, the Mangalore fur absorbing a multitude of fire. Ligris tore them apart, snapping necks and crushing bodies before making his way towards the Dark Master himself.

Syrenia then sprang into action with a somersault while igniting the Fire Whip. Furiously she screamed and struck Ligris all over his body, lashing him with the searing whip which cut into his Mangalore fur. He struck back, hitting her hard across the face but she was resilient with rage and driving him back towards the railing sent him flying with a powerful side kick to his midsection. Ligris tumbled backward and fell 60 feet into the open pit.

The Tyrengas started to circle as Ligris staggered to his feet. All of the Dark Lords as well as Syrenia and Lord Rexor himself stood at the railing as the crowd cheered with a lust for blood. Shouts of “KILL HIM, KILL HIM” filled the stadium. This is not what Lord Rexor expected, but it made excellent pre-show entertainment. The crowd was going wild as the projections of Ligris imminent death rotated around the stadium in multi-colored holomorphic displays.

Ligris had fought Mangalores before so he had no natural fear of the Tyrengas. They wouldn’t all attack at once. The dominant male would attack first, then the two females. Ligris could sense the male was about to pounce and as it did he jumped up into the air to meet it. Their two bodies collided and tore into each other. The Mangalore fur was holding off the Tyrenga’s bite and claws but the Kraal’s anger was growing. The Gussam bio form was still attached to his leg and it pumped up his strength with secreted bio-chemicals.

Ligris was only 300 lbs and was tackling a 950 lb cat, his powerful legs wrapped around the big cat‘s torso. The Tyrenga roared as Ligris forced it up on its hind legs and wrapping his powerful hands around its neck started to crush the cat‘s wind pipe. The big cat started to struggle and shake, clawing wildly, but Ligris kept crunching down until every Sith could hear the cat’s neck snap. The Tyrenga fell limp to the ground as Ligris released it and jumped to the side. The Sith crowd gasped in horror. No one had ever survived a Tyrenga attack- Never!

Next were the two females. One made a huge leap and this time Ligris rammed his helmet forward with force into the stomach of the beast, splitting it open with the Mangalore’s lightning horns. Ligris pulled back, the Tyrenga’s blood and guts falling from the jagged horns. Ligris was soaked in Tyrenga blood. The third cat circled wildly and tore at Ligris with its sharp claws but he had had enough. Grabbing the Tyrenga’s thick tail he used all his strength and swung the huge cat right into a solid pillar, splattering its brains all over the lower pit wall. There was stunned silence in the stadium.
 
Realizing that the AD-AX utility droid was still attached to his breastplate Ligris pulled out his belt buckle line cord and attached it to the AD-AX which then flew upwards using micro-thrusters pulling Ligris back up to the balcony where Lord Rexor, the Nine Dark Lords, and Syrenia were. Facing them standing near the railing, Ligris approached in a fury but was halted by K-LOK which announced rather loudly, “ 2,000,000 YAROS IT IS” … and then a levitator safe case appeared filled with money. Ligris stopped in his tracks and paused for a moment as his anger abated.

Ligris picked up his weapons and the case and left for the ISR. Before leaving, he turned back to the Sith and said over his right shoulder, “Due to this unfortunate incident we will never do business again”. Lord Rexor said nothing as the Kyrie reinforcements fearfully moved out of the way.

The Dark Lord then called for silence and a one hour  delay as the Grand Stadium was a mess. Syrenia released the restraints on Lady Kaliah and headed for a private room for her own personal pleasure. The Whill Seer was to be her sexual “play toy“. Lord Rexor objected but Syrenia harshly replied that she was due her pleasure and that when she returned Lord Rexor would enjoy his pleasure watching her being tortured. The Dark Lord said nothing and waived Syrenia off with these words, “forty-five minutes only, do not be late.” Syrenia hoisted Lady Kaliah up over her shoulder and turned back towards Lord Rexor with a wicked smile as she walked away. The male Kyries moved out of the Dark Mistress’ way and made no attempt to guard the door of the private room.

Out in the streets of Hael Bo’ and Kailen, uniformed as a Kyrie and Tech Scanner, had no idea where to look for Kali. They had wandered about from Max-Kyller’s residence all the way down through the inner city streets for about an hour. The streets were largely empty due to the event that was about to unfold at the Grand Stadium. But suddenly there appeared in the sky the giant Global Communications Network (GCN) holomorphic system coming live from somewhere in the city. Bo’ and Kailen looked up, puzzled. For Kailen, the Tech Scanner suit was too loose even with the auto-adjusters set on maximum shrinkage. Thank heavens the Kyries had left the dead bodies on Kyller’s landing platform as one of the two was short. Just not short… enough!

Lord Rexor and the Dark Lords had all returned to their seats after the Dark Master had ordered the dead Kyries and Tyrenga’s removed. Cleaning and maintenance droids repaired the minor damage and made everything like new. The floor plates were closed and the crowd was ordered to keep quiet, that Ligris’ fighting skill was unprecedented and that he deserved to live. Everything was returning back to normal.

Syrenia re-emerged with Lady Kaliah after forty-five minutes and tied her back to the Lectropoles. K-LOK persisted over the Falcon’s destruction but the Dark Master did not want to be “bothered” right now with trivial matters- he would deal with Max-Kyller personally after this evening’s performance… which was starting NOW!

As Lord Rexor rose to his feet the entire stadium stood and shouted, “All hail, Dark Master!”