Enchanted Introduction

**Shayna Ordo** · Independent Joined: 16 Mar 2008 Posts: 53

Felucia's flora had a squishy, rubbery, and very springy feel to it. This was mostly because the soil of Felucia was so rich that as you stepped on a plant, it didn't just crush underfoot and stay somewhat limp. Instead it actually grew back into its exact position, stronger and healthier than it had been before it was disturbed. This resilience made navigating the dense jungles of the planet precarious at best. Even vibroblades could go dull after a day's journey through the botanical paradise.

Lightsabers however, tended to change the rules in any situation. Shayna's dual red-bladed lightsabers effortlessly cut a swath through the foliage and fungal growth. Her target, ironically, was the Moff who had shortchanged her just a week prior. His chief rival for authority in the sector had long been contending for the position of Moff. Taking advantage of a brief lapse in the Moff's security, the rival had made spectacular power play and had now himself become Moff of the sector, placing his predecessor on the run with a large bounty on his head. Shayna simply couldn't refuse. Gotta love fate's sense of irony. Keeps the galaxy interesting, she thought.

The jungle was filled with all sorts of interference, making old fashioned tracking a must. Fairly easy to do, especially since the former Moff had been stabbed by one of her gauntlet's retractable knuckle-plate vibroblades just above the knee. One of the his two remaining stormtrooper escorts, providing he still lived and hadn't yet bled out, was missing his right arm. Between the two injuries, they were moving very slowly and had left a virtual highway of blood for her to follow. Shayna was still disappointed over being tricked by that stormtrooper who had laid down his blaster in surrender, but not before setting it to overload. The distraction had cost that stormtrooper and three of his companions their lives, but had bought the surviving two enough time to get her target to safety. Tactics like those weren't taught at the Imperial Academy. In her opinion, a good soldier like that shouldn't have to die in defense of such a kriffing waste of a Y chromosome.

Shayna stopped clear-cutting and began listening intently. The creatures of Felucia made an organic static. Croaks, creaks, and squeals permeated the air. But one sound stood out. It was a man who was crying out in pain. Her target. The stormtroopers should have shot him with a stun bolt and carried him silently. Maybe they're not such good soldiers after all. She quickly and silently crept forward.

In a little grotto surrounded by a colony of giant blue fungal mushrooms sat the exiled Moff and a stormtrooper attempting to re-bandage the injured knee. Only one trooper left. Doesn't mean he's not around. Shayna looked up amongst the tops of the local plants and fungus. Finally she saw him. A stormtrooper lying prone on top of one of a mushroom cap, his one and only arm attempting to hold his blaster rifle steady. A sniper, eh? That's more like it. She crept back into the brush and made her way around the grotto very methodically before coming to a stop at a larger mushroom behind the sniper.

A quick fibercord grapple and climb later and she was on top of the giant fungal structure, the resonating sounds of the local wildlife masking her movement. Once again she crept forward, this time looking over the edge at the back of the prone stormtrooper. Convinced his focus had moved away from her direction for the time being, Shayna stood, her rangefinder dropping in front of her helmet's visor. She raised her gauntlet and the wrist-mounted concussion rocket on her gauntlet began to hiss and it primed for launch. A loud pop echoed throughout the grotto as the micro-missile shot forward. The sniper quickly looked around, his head turning just in time for the explosive projectile to collide with his face and detonate, the concussive blast flinging his now burning body to the ground.

The Moff and his remaining bodyguard quickly spun to see the source of the explosion as well as their fallen comrade. Shayna leapt from the mushroom cap, a quick jetpack burn cushioning her landing before her prey. The remaining stormtrooper reached for his blaster rifle and took three rounds from one of Shayna's Mandalorian heavy blasters to the chest as a reward. She holstered the weapon after an arrogant flourish. This was where she got her payback.

"Please!" The Moff was shaking, crying, and crawling backwards while trying to sit up and face his executioner. "I beg of you! I'm sorry I wronged you! I'll pay you three... No, five times what I owed you!" He wasn't a man at all, just as Shayna had surmised above Muunilist one week ago. This creature was a spineless pile of sentient excrement. "Just please! Don't kill me!" It was pathetic, but not original in the least. All bounty hunters heard some form of this plea every job. In fact, it was so overused that they didn't actually hear it. The sound entered their ears and was very coldly ignored. The bargaining would come soon, "M... Miss Ordo... W... We're c... ci... civilized people, aren't we? Sh... Sh.. Surely we can work something out right?"

Shayna reached out to the groveling mess before her, the fingers of her bes'kar crushgaunts slowly wrapping themselves around his neck. She smiled behind her Mandalorian armor. "I don't think so. The contract specifically asked for your head, but failed to mention the manner in which it was to be presented. Personally, I'd like to see how easy it is to tear the head off a creature with no spine." She watched her prey's eyes roll back and immediately his body went limp in her hands. She was puzzled momentarily as she didn't think she had tightened her grip around his neck, but then quickly realized he had fainted. The miserable little weasel had fainted when faced with his own mortality. "Hmm... Not the end I had intended, but..."

She let go of him and sent a pickup command to her StarViper. It landed close by minutes later. She dragged the unconscious body over to the cargo hatch and tossed it in. She had converted the cargo hold into an environmentally-sealed holding cell of sorts just after acquiring the ship so that she could transport scum like the Moff across the galaxy without having to potentially expose them to the well below zero, hard vaccuum nature of many leaky, external starfighter cargo holds. After she climbed into the cockpit, she keyed in the auto-pilot along with the hyperspace coordinates and began to drift off to sleep. It had been a long day and the payoff was worth far more than money could buy. Revenge is sweet...