| CHAPTER V: SCRAPYARD Bo’ turned around and was drawn to a sound he could not place. It was a solid sound, but muffled coming from outside a short distance away. As long as Bo’ had been here on Na’Baiya he was, as far as he knew, its only resident. There were no animals here either… and sounds don’t make themselves. Bo’ slowly reached for his Gust gun- a high-powered projectile weapon with nasty implosion rounds. He could set the range on them to target an enemy. Detonate a round far in front of an adversary and you would knock him unconscious with a huge shock wave. Detonate a round directly in front of him and the shock wave would shatter every bone in his body, killing him instantly. Actually hit an enemy and his body would implode into a flying bio-mess. Bo’ didn’t want to kill anyone so he set the rounds to auto-detonate 30 feet away by clicking the detonation setting up three notches. Cautiously, he rounded a corner of piled scrap- nothing. But the silence was too much. Bo’ could sense something was watching him. Nervously he slowly swung his weapon in a 360 degree circle- but still nothing. As Bo’ moved around another huge scrap heap he could see in the distance a strange ship that had silently landed. It had an odd arrow shape, was roughly sixty-six feet long with three strange staggered delta wings. The cockpit was also strange in that it was buried right into a huge swept tail… but… wait a second… the canopy was open and unoccupied, meaning that someone or something is on the ground here. Just then it hit Bo’ that the dark ship was covered in obsidian armor. “Only the Sith use those and take a look at those massive gun pods slung underneath. That thing is a combat fighter”. Bo gasped and suddenly felt the instinct to run for his life but it was too late. As he turned around he saw a formidable sight- a Sith warrior in full combat gear. “And a woman too”! She was clad head to toe in obsidian armor with a massive winged helmet and glaring red visor. Her straight long hair was neatly bundled and wrapped in a black protective covering as well on a rotating ball mount below the back of her helmet and as she walked it swayed side-to-side like the thick tail of the Sith’s own Tyrenga cat- only it too acted as a weapon, a swinging whip blade with a serrated edge. Her boots rose to her knees and her arms were covered by thick gauntlets with wrist weapons of some kind. Only her frame and custom breastplate revealed she was a female warrior- what the Sith called a Kyrie. Female Kyries were rare. Syrenia had no need for a quick assault as she scanned her target. This was just some puny scavenger living in a waste dump on a small planetoid. Hardly worth a kill, rather undignified. “Nevertheless, I have a function to perform here and there can be no witnesses. This piece of trash will die.” Slowly, the Kyrie advanced and Bo’ now raised his Gust gun up to meet the threat. Still, Syrenia marched forward and hit her wrist button igniting her right hand Fire Blade. Bo’ had never seen such a weapon- a brilliant shaft of blazing red light roughly two feet long protruding from a cylindrical device wrapped around the Sith’s right forearm. On her left forearm she had another one. Bo’ stood his ground defiantly. “Back off now or pay the price.” As he spoke, he slowly clicked back the detonation manual setting and moved the selector switch on the Gust to point blank detonation, the gun’s auto-sight already in target mode. Syrenia continued to advance on him. It was obvious that the Sith was intent on combat so Bo’ obliged. Pointing the Gust straight at her he spoke to her one last time in a firm voice, “I warned you”, and with that he fired a single round. The implosion detonation created a massive shock wave that threw the Kyrie fifty feet straight into a jagged metal scrap heap. All that could be seen after the dust cleared was a hole in the stacked pile of metal. “So much for Sith fighting prowess, I should have joined the JunKar Army… I’d have the Honor with Valor Medal by now”, he laughed out loud. But as he started to walk away the sound of crunching metal reached his ears. He turned to see the pile of metal start to burn as a black obsidian-clad arm reached through and hurled a heavy cruiser blast plate aside like it was made of lightweight Plasta castings. The Kyrie was alive and apparently untouched by the blast, apart from her anger. The Kyrie, head down, seemed agitated now and climbing back down the scrap pile pulled a black ball from her side pouch. Once again Bo’ raised the Gust and this time clicked the selector to Hit. He wasn’t taking any chances this time. Without a word he fired as she dropped the ball charger, which created a ball of dark matter shield energy around her as she lowered her helmet. The implosion round struck with force but was deflected around the Kyrie’s spherical dark shield and into the scrap heap which threw huge chunks of metal all over the area. For a few more seconds the shield stayed up but then dissipated. The Kyrie raised her head and re-ignited her Fire Blade. Bo’ couldn’t believe his eyes - this Sith was unstoppable. In desperation Bo’ fired three more implosion rounds into the ground and nearby scrap piles as pieces of jagged metal filled the air while great chunks of soil formed a massive dust cloud barrier in front of him. Bo’ waited and for a few moments it seemed as if the Kyrie had vanished, possibly cut to pieces by the jagged debris or suffocating as her air intake ring (obturator) might have become clogged with dust and dirt. But Bo’ was wrong. The tip of the burning blade was seen slowly emerging from within the dust cloud and then the Kyrie’s red visor came into sight. As the dust settled the Kyrie merely walked around the impact craters and metal debris, clearing her obturator and helmet ventilator with compressed gas jets. Her filthy combat suit soon was shining again after impregnated decontaminators cleansed the suit of all contaminates. Bo’ knew the Gust couldn’t help him, that he’d have to fight the old fashioned way- hand to hand combat. Slowly he holstered his weapon as he searched the scrap yard for some form of defense. Grabbing the nearest blast plate with a locking visor he placed his hand through its lock handle and raised it up as a shield. The Kyrie circled and then lunged. The Fire Blade hit the plate and began to cut into it, sparks flying. Bo’ pulled it back quickly and as the Kyrie prepared to lunge again Bo’ used all his might to slam the smoking shield against her. But the obsidian armor was too strong and the blow only managed to knock her down. She regained her footing and advanced further. Now both Fire Blades were ignited and the Kyrie took the shield apart in one move - a high jump and spin maneuver. Bo’ dropped the still burning metal and fell back, dodging her spinning whip blade in the process. The Kyrie lunged again and this time Bo’ grabbed her wrists, trying to keep the Fire Blades away, but she swept his feet and they fell to the ground. One of the blades pierced Bo’s left arm below his shoulder with searing pain but he used his strength and twisted her right wrist, pushing the deadly Fire Blade into her left shoulder, leaving her obsidian armor plating smoldering while he used his left knee and leg to kick her off of him. She recovered rapidly and then stood up straight. With determination she removed one of her blades and a module from it. She then removed a module from the other blade. After that, she interconnected the two Fire Blades and made a single long cylinder. When she hit the ignition button this time the twin blades had become a single sword of four feet length! A red blazing Fire Blade which made an ominous crackling and sizzling sound as it pulse modulated rhythmically. “Time to finish this nuisance once and for all” Syrenia thought to herself. Bo’ knew he couldn’t defend himself against such a weapon; that the Kyrie was invincible in that combat suit and helmet. Bo’ dropped to his knees in defeat and said a prayer before dying. It was the JunKar way. The Kyrie silently acknowledged his prayer and nodded before approaching with her Fire Blade raised for the kill. Bo’ lowered his head in submission. His last thought, “I failed the fair woman back inside, the Sith has surely come for her”. Just then a powerful gust of wind blew from behind Bo’ and the Kyrie’s attention turned to the figure standing behind him. “This cannot be” Syrenia thought to herself before another voice entered her mind, “Oh yes it can, daughter of evil.” The Kyrie stood motionless in disbelief. It was Lady Kaliah all right but she was radiant and where her Halo-chron had been now emanated a natural ring of light. Kaliah reached down to Bo’s pierced arm and touched it. It healed instantaneously and Bo’ was filled with imparted happiness. His mind was set at ease. All fear had fled. But the Kyrie burned in anger and thrust her Fire Blade down towards Bo’s head. As the blade swung down Lady Kaliah closed her eyes and a magnificent light wave radiated from her, blinding the Kyrie, snuffing out her Fire Blade and forcing her to lower her Black Caster visor screen. She was temporarily blinded and staggered backwards while Bo’ was helped to his feet by Lady Kaliah. Hand-in-hand they both ran to Bo’s ISR. Down on the surface the Kyrie rose from the ashes like a Syrenia removed her battle helmet and looking to the stars, screamed as loud as she could. But the stars weren’t listening… only the five Gretches sent to follow Evasor were. They had just entered the debris field.
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