CHAPTER XXXXIV: RE-MATCH

Possh reclined in her Inka plush cabin of Passion Hate contemplating all the ways she was going to lavish her newly acquired wealth on her rich socialite friends and lovers. On U’Kia the Lady Vikka Bikkum was a celebrity royal forever in the spotlight. Whenever she vanished as Possh the headlines were full of inventive stories of cruises in the Nebulas, holidays on  the water worlds of Salon, Marin & Bayur, or sight seeing beyond the Outer Rim Markers on discovery tours. But in reality, Possh had fought deadly battles in all sectors of space and had always captured her prey dead or alive. In this case, however, alive was demanded. So, Possh had Lord Kalore drugged up on Silorine, a powerful hallucinogenic drug that would keep the Dark Lord helpless in her cozy cargo hold.

But little did she suspect that the Dark Lord wasn’t entirely useless. Even with her miraflage engaged Passion Hate was being secretly tracked by Tirahn back onboard Defiance through the MD-13. The Dark Lord had worried about getting lost on the Bura world and had a medi-droid inject a intermittent burst micro transmitter into his wrist. It was set to self-actuate after one hour, so Possh had missed it in her initial scan of Lord Kalore’s body. Possh had so little confidence in the Sith as a people that she considered their ignorance part of their character. To her, one Sith was just as ignorant as another. But she had badly underestimated the Dark Lord who had extremely powerful sensor arrays fitted to Defiance back at the Automated Evaleon Shipyard. The sensors were so sensitive that Possh’s heartbeat could almost be heard in the vastness of space.

All was peaceful and calm as Passion Hate cruised on auto-pilot towards a bounty of 5 million Yaros.

But that was all about to change as Passion Hate was violently jolted by an attacker to the rear. “What the bloody hell was that!” Possh thought to herself as warning alarms came on inside her cabin. Then there was a terrible screeching sound as a powerful grappling beam was locked onto her ship and pulling it backwards into a large internal bay.

Looking up, Possh could see that it was the Dark Lord’s ship Defiance! “That’s impossible” shouted Possh , there’s no one onboard that ship.” With extreme anger Possh shut down her primary engines which were straining under the grappling beam and rode the beam up into the bay where an extension pad was moving into place. Possh shut down all systems and grabbed her Phantom rifle as the Passion Hate came to rest on the extended landing pad. The bay doors closed and all that could be heard was the rumbling of the Defiance’s RIP engines. All lighting was shut down too… which was highly irregular… until the familiar red glowing orb sensor of a DD-33 droid came down an access ramp and produced a small turbo pulser cannon from its busty innards.

The DD-33 ordered the bounty hunter to turn over Lord Kalore or face the consequences of the ship’s MD-13 computer!

Possh laughed out loud! This giant unmanned ship has made a rescue attempt by computer and armed droids?  The Sith truly are fools. With this ship under my control I can make it back to Tirahnna in less than half the time of Passion Hate. This was like a dream come true! Can things get any better?

As the black and gold striped box-like DD-33 slowly made its way down the access ramp Possh grabbed for her Starling turbo pulser and locked a curved mag of hyper-rounds into it. The weapon was fully charged and as Possh opened the exit ramp she slowly descended  before jumping off to the left of it. The DD-33 was slowly advancing on its twin rollers when Possh swung out from under the ramp and emptied the mag into the droid which was blown into pieces of flying mechanical parts. The smell of burning circuitry filled the air as the destroyed machine dropped over and its red sensor eye went dark.

Possh was already gloating and approached the twisted wreckage of machine when a powerful THUD! hit her square in the face, knocking her down with great force. Dazed, Possh tried to regain her balance but was kicked from behind and then another THUD! smashed her helmet hard sending her flying across the landing pad deck. Possh tried to sit up but then the circular mag locks on the landing pad secured around her ship with an intense blue beam.

Something was very wrong here. Something was inside the bay with her. Possh tried to remain calm and composed, but then slid down the deck for her Starling, releasing its mag, and sliding a new one into place. After charging the weapon she fired in a 360 degree circle striking the landing gear of her ship, the deck, side railings, and the access ramp. Silence. Nothing moved. Or so Possh thought as an unseen predator stalked her with a vengeance.

Possh knew she was in danger and quickly raced to get back inside her ship. Perhaps she would arm it and attempt to fire her way out of Defiance’s hold. But too late. Looking above her, automated machinery was moving and then her helmet crackled as a grappling beam lifted her high up in the air. Possh reached for her tentaclaw and aimed at a side railing but then a strange black fire emerged from thin air and cut the cords away. Staring at an anomalous shape coming into view, Tirahn de-cloaked as Possh could now see that it was the hated Kyrie Tirahn she left back on TaBora.

“But how?!” Possh shouted. “That is of no consequence to you bounty hunter” Tirahn responded coldly, “but I do have something exciting planned for your death.” Possh was squirming inside the reba-suit but she was held firmly into place. The Kyrie approached with the black fire weapon and Possh thought she would be cut to pieces. Tirahn held the burning weapon up to her helmet but then switched it off and mag-locked it to her belt. “No, bounty hunter, killing you with a fire blade is too dignified compared to how you humiliated me with that Tuskat urine back on TaBora. I’m going to repay you with an offensive weapon of my own.”

Standing back towards the rear of Passion Hate Tirahn removed a special black case from a weapons storage locker and brought out what looked like a thermal detonator. She clicked the arming switch up three notches and removed the firing pin. Tossing the ball at Possh the grenade bursted with a cloud of powder which attached to Possh’s reba-suit.  Alarms sounded inside Possh’s helmet- DESEX detected. This was a banned bio-weapon on 31 worlds. In Possh’s mind she cried out, No!!!

DESEX was a brown silicate powder that reacted with liquid violently. Since it was so fine, it penetrated almost any material and right now it was penetrating the reba-suit, seeping into its pores and making contact with the bio-elastic fluid inside producing a toxic gas. The suit started to pour with vapor and violently constrict as the gas was a desiccative type that drained all fluids at once, dehydrating a person alive.

Possh could feel the suit tighten all around her arms, legs, and body. The bio-elastic fluid was now pouring through the widening pores of the suit and causing tears. Possh screamed as the nauseous  gas filled her helmet and her body convulsed as all of its fluids began to drain at once. Possh was sweating, salivating, urinating, and bleeding out of her pores. The pain was excruciating.

Tirahn remained to the rear of the starship while she activated her whip ball. Targeting the emergency air lock lever, Tirahn coiled the whip cord around it and pulled it down slowly. Alarms sounded as the inner and outer doors slowly opened, sucking all air and loose debris out into space. Possh was still screaming as she blew her helmet faceplate lock and was gasping for air as her bulging eyes bled, nose ran, and mouth salivated uncontrollably.

The DESEX cloud was sucked out into space but its effect on the reba-suit and Possh was irreversible. As the suit continued to constrict losing all its fluids Possh could feel her ribs slowly begin to crack while her arms and legs fractured. She screamed in terror until finally the pressure was so great that she imploded into a bloody bio-mess that was sucked out the emergency air lock. That was the end of snobby rich royal socialite Vikka Bikkum. Tirahn always thought of bounty hunters as trash anyway and she had just disposed of her trash down the “waste disposal” chute!

Tirahn remained secured to the lever and quickly raised it back up, sealing the air lock doors. It was over, the pompous bounty hunter was dead. Now to rescue my Dark Lord Kalore! Tirahn raced inside the bounty hunter’s ship and lifted her Master from the cargo hold, carrying him up into the Master’s luxurious inner private chamber. She laid him to rest on his comfort sleep riser before internally unlocking the mag-bolts and finally climbing out of the Kyrie Shadow suit. She was soaked in sweat and felt dirty as she carefully disconnected the ball whip cord mechanism and pulled her long hair back through the helmet. Releasing it of its coil bands Tirahn’s raven black hair flowed to the floor and as she ran her fingers through its silky length, she draped her naked body in it. After that, she immediately headed for one of the vorta hydro tubes.

The vortas were large ten foot high, six foot diameter cylindrical bathing units that once sealed filled with water and thoroughly cleansed the body or were used for pure aquatic pleasure. The unit had two hand grippers to reach up to and foot restraints at the bottom that one could slip into. Eye protectors were needed for high settings as the unit used a liquid vortex effect to cleanse all areas of the body. An inside panel controlled all settings and multiple oxygenator tubes were installed.

Tirahn grabbed hold of the handles, slid her feet into place and selected a comforting warm hydro setting with maximum cleansing agents. As the water level began to rise she grabbed a pair of eye goggles and slid an oxygenator tube into her mouth, gripping its end with her teeth. The water was soothing and her immersion felt like heaven as the vortex turbine kicked in and Tirahn could feel the swirling jets of water grow stronger like invisible scrubbers cleansing every pore of her aching body. Her flowing hair was held in a special cleansing tube to her rear and was being treated separately. After nearly two days of combat and fatigue Tirahn was enjoying all the pleasures of the vorta. Her breasts were firm with her nipples erect and she felt feminine again. She stayed in the vorta for nearly an hour and then after drying off clad herself in her sexiest transpeiria cloth. She wanted her Master to be pleased when he finally awakened.

When the Dark Lord did finally wake up after an hour he suddenly found himself in his private quarters aboard Defiance with Tirahn wrapped around him in transperia garments! Startled, Dark Lord Kalore wondered if all of this had been a nasty dream but then he felt the bruises and cuts from Night Raven’s crash and realized that somehow he had been rescued by Tirahn. The Dark Lord had immediately contemplated resuming his attack on the Dark Master but felt comfortable in Tirahn’s arms and quietly slipped back into sleep. Vengeance could wait another hour or so…