Chapter 1

(Section I)

Deep in space, a BFF-1 Bulk Freighter floated in space with no destination it seemed.  Its size was not anything grand; for it was a fairly small craft.  It looked as though it had been through quite a few battles, for the outside hydro-steel plates looked worse than a jawa stuck in a Tatooine sandstorm. 

     To the naked eye it would seem as though the ship was abandoned.  Even a very perceptive being would probably only feel a little uneasy before he dismissed it as a hunk of scrap metal and that there was nothing exciting about this small insignificant ship.  But that was quite the opposite.

     In this supposedly ordinary ship, an extraordinary battle was taking place.  A battle propelled not by good and evil, nor by revenge, not even enemy against enemy.  This battle raged simply to fight; to see which one was the best.

     In the dim lit room the two opponents fought with speed and accuracy; throwing blows with their hands and feet. The battle seemed more like a dance than a fight, for as one would strike out with perfect precision, the other would block with the strength and swiftness like the wind.  When one would seem to have found an opening, the other would make sure it could not be used.

     It looked as if they were a perfect match despite the differences in both opponents’ size.  One, being a droid, was about 2.2 meters tall with broad shoulders and moving with power and skill.  He looked like he could take on three angry Wookiees and come out with not even a scratch on him. 

     The other- a girl- was much more slim and smaller in stature, coming to about the droid’s mid-section.  But this little warrior was much more skilled and graceful.  Every move the fighter made was like flowing water; perfect and exact. 

     “How about we turn it up a notch,” she said with a smirk.  Without waiting for a response, she somersaulted through the air and landed close to a wall that held ancient hand-carved spears.  Grabbing two, she threw one to her opponent, and watched him catch it. Silently it took its stance.

     He’s good Mai-yen, very good. The voice seemed to leak into her consciousness like it had all the other times. With it came a rush of power that coursed through her veins; making her hair stand on edge. This feeling was so familiar but yet still foreign, and that’s how she wanted to keep it.    

     “Yeah, but I’m better,” she said softly, her smirk now turning into a challenging sneer. You won’t make me use it. I’ll never open myself up to that again, never.

     Oh yeah, prove it! Its voice reverberated throughout her whole body.

     Taking the challenge, Mai-yen spun the spear in her hand and around her back to her other hand.  The spear seemed to dance around her body, making everything else seem to move in slow motion.  Her confidence growing with every move she made, she started to walk toward her adversary, still spinning the weapon.  The weapon was perfectly weighted, the cold handle her fingers were wrapped around, cooled her sweaty body.

     “Let’s fight” she said, taking her stance a few meters away from the droid.

     Without a sound the large droid took the offence.  Spinning its body and the spear, it came down with an attack that had amazing strength and speed behind it.  Mai-yen knew very well that there was no way she could block that attack.  Spinning fast to the droid’s side, she missed the long bladed tip of the spear by inches.  Then, with her body still in motion, she took the butt of her weapon and hit its ankle hard. 

     The thud of its enormous metal body slamming into the floor rang victoriously in her ears.  She quickly brought her blade to the droids neck joint, expecting to have won the battle.  But before she could get her weapon in place, her opponent swung its leg- which had been the farthest from her- and hit the back of her knees.

     Mai-yen could feel the air whooshing passed her as her body went airborne.  She had to think quickly before she lost this battle, and had to accept defeat.  Curling her body into a tight ball she did a back-flip and landed; her feet in a solid stance.

     How was that?  She asked the voice in her head.

     Pretty good, but you’re still holding back… Don’t. Use all your strengths, don’t withhold anything.  Only then will you be able to defeat your past.

     But I’m not fighting my past; I have left it behind me.  It is forgotten. Flashes of a large burning forest that seemed so familiar to her but why, she hadn’t a clue nor did she want to. Why was it always trying to push her? She had left that part of her life behind and never looked back. She couldn’t.

    Ha… That is where you are wrong.  You are always fighting your past, and you’ve never stopped looking back.

            She was now in the burning forest. She could feel the heat from the flames like she was actually in the inferno. She could smell the smoke to the point that her lungs actually burnt from it. This was her past forgotten; the voice was bringing it back: In it she was running from something, but she couldn’t remember who. There was a little boy crying ahead of her hugging his mother’s body, who –from what she could tell- was dead or at least close to death. She heard a girl crying so close to her that it seemed to reach in her skull and craw at her brain. Why can’t that girl just stop crying? She was about to tell the girl shut her mouth or Mai-yen was going to shut it for her, when she realized that it was her crying. Stop it, STOP it! She wanted to rip the memory from her mind. I don’t want to remember!

But I can help you forget; all you have to do is come to me, my little one.  Come to me.

     What are you?  Where can I find you? Where?  But her questions were left unanswered; echoing in her head. Was this voice just her imagination? Was she finally hearing voices after years of seclusion from living life? Had she finally lost her mind?

The thought of being insane fueled the fire that was so deep within her that it had never gone out. It made her blood boil so that she was afraid her skin would melt. It made her want to scream at the top of her lungs. The fire she held so close was hatred, and it was starting to spread its flames of anger throughout her entire body. I’m not crazy, she thought with a growl.

     Filled with anger now, Mai-yen could no longer contain the power that was within her.  Screaming out in frustration, she was suddenly aware of every inch of the room she was in.  The smells of the wooden handled weapons that were hanging on the walls.  The seams and cracks along the floor. She was aware of all that was around her, especially the large droid she was facing.  She could practically feel the volts of electricity move through its circuits.  She could smell the hydraulic fluid that helped power its mechanical heart.  She knew that she had complete control of this soon-to-be scrap of metal.  Putting her feet parallel to each other she slowly lifted her hands over her head, bringing with it her opponent.  Then with some great effort, she started to pull her hands farther and farther apart. 

     Her eyes were closed, but she knew better than anyone could that the droid was beginning to be pulled apart by an invisible force.  With one final burst of energy from inside her, its limbs were thrown across the room in different directions as its head and body exploded into billions of little pieces.

            She opened her eyes to see a job well done. But as soon as she opened them realization hit her hard than any opponent ever could.

            No, not again. How could I of used it again? Shame rose up in her; bringing heat to her already sweaty body. She had done it again. Would she ever be able to leave this part of herself behind?

            Why are you so stubborn? Just let the power over take you. That is the only time you will ever have control.

            Control of what?

            Everything my dear… Everything.

     “That was absolutely; positively extraordinary, Mistress.”  Said the protocol-droid, BT3-O, as it walked over to Mai-yen with a towel draped over its metal arm and a bottle of some kind of energy drink.

            See my dear, what did I tell you? You can be positively extraordinary with every moment of your life. What do you think?

            I think it’s time for you to shut up, she thought with a snarl. 

     “I know I was quivering in my outer casing.”  BT3-O said while handing Mai-yen the bottle of fluid, and the towel to wipe the sweat off her face.

            But I can give you power over the whole galaxy, just listen to me.

            That was it, she had had it. She wanted this thing out of her head and life. But before she could tell it to shove its head- if it even had one- up a bantha’s butt, its presence lift her.

            Finally, some peace and quiet, she thought, hoping that she would actually feel peace she so eagerly wanted to feel. But she knew that would never come, not to her.

     “Thank you Beetee,” She said taking the bottle and towel that was offered to her. She took a drink trying to shake the despair that dared to consume her. She tried to stop the shaking in her hands by untying a leather strap that was wound around her wrist and pull her short black and white streaked hair back and tie it into a pony tail.

“But I still didn’t beat the H2H droid with my own strength; I used that accursed Force ability of mine.”  Sighing, she wiped her face, neck and arms off with the towel and then threw it back to the droid’s arm and placed the bottle in the droids hand. 

“I’ll just have to start over, and this time, make it little more difficult.”  She said as she started over to a line of five H2H combat droids on stand-by.

     “If I’m not being too forward Mistress, but isn’t this Force you speak of a part of your strength?”  BT3-O said, waddling to follow its mistress.

     Mai-yen couldn’t help but give a small laugh at that.  Hadn’t the voice in her head said the very same thing, more than once? 

     “No Beetee, it is not.” She answered, moving her fingertips over the skin-like synthetic membrane of the H2H’s outer shell.

     Unlike most droids, the Hand Two Hand combat droid was made with a soft transparent membrane resembling skin that covered their metal skeleton.  The reason for this membrane was so when you punch it; it felt more like you were attacking a living being, instead of a metal object.

    Mai-yen had found this type of droid a year or so after Rie-yen, her brother’s death.  It had been in a pile of junk in one of the many Outer Rim planets.  The droid was pretty beaten up, but she was able to get it up and running.  After that it came easy to copy the droid’s mechanics.

     “Mistress…”

     “What is it Beetee?”  Mai-yen said, not moving her gaze from the large hibernating droid.

     “I-have-been-studying-yourenergylevels, andit-seems-tomydiagnostic-database thatyouarein-needofa-seriousrecharge, Mistress.”  BT3-O said too fast for a human to comprehend.

     “Beetee, what have I told you about speaking too fast.  Stop talking like I created you to communicate with a Roottii.”  She said as she remembered the small fury creatures, whose language was spoken so fast that nothing but other Rootis or a protocol droid could understand.  “Now speak in Basic, the language I know.”

     “I am terribly sorry Mistress.”  It said, a little slower this time.  “To put it ‘Basically’, you are exhausted and need rest.”

     Laughing at that, Mai-yen shook her head and walked over to a control panel inset into the wall next to the line of droids.  “You worry too much for a droid, Beetee.  I will be fine.  I know what I’m doing.  Oh, and you might want to leave, because it is about to get very dangerous in here for a droid.”  With that, she punched a couple of buttons on the panel next to the droids  , waited for BT3-O to leave, and then hit the ON switch.

     She watched as all five H2H combats came to life.  Their orange optical sensors hummed as they turned on. Getting off their stands they had been in, the droids simultaneously scanned the room.  They were searching for something. 

     Finally they came to rest their gaze on Mai-yen.  She watched in great pride as their mechanical eyes glowed a brighter orange than before; indicating that they had found who they were looking for, her.

     Smiling, all she said as they started to charge her was, “Let’s bring on the heat.”    




(Section II)

Gungal watched the blue, green and red Twi’lek girls dancing before him.  His eyes moving over their lush bodies as they moved to the music the band played in the corner of the large chamber.  Little did he know cold emotionless eyes were watching him; eyes that were ready to kill. 

     He took a deep gulp of his strong drink and laughed at two of his shipmates were having a discussion with their fists.  He remembered when he was like that; foolish, angry and not knowing how to use his anger to his advantage.  But now he was the captain of his ship and was the most feared human clone pirate in all the Empire, as a matter of a fact he probably was the only human clone pirate, but that was the point. He was something that no other being was; he was different. He had made something of himself and was no longer just another clone; he was now Captain Gungal a powerful individual no matter what his DNA said. 

            Becoming a pirate captain hadn’t been an easy feat either. He had been made to be a soldier; only to take orders and do whatever he was told, not to have dreams or ambitions, just a brainless warrior, killing when he was told. He was to be like an accursed droid, that’s what he was made for. Thank the stars that fate had another plan for him.

            No one knew how it happened; he just was different from all the other clones. He wanted to know why when someone told to do something. He had a desire to be important when all his fellow clones couldn’t care less where they were assigned. He complained, felt anger, depression, sadness, scared and had a need for companionship. He was not an exact copy. He was human.

            It didn’t take long for the creators to realize that Gungal was different, and to them different was bad. They conducted tests on him to see if they could reverse the anomaly and make sure it never happened again.

He couldn’t remember much of that time other than that the tests hurt. The pain was so bad that it had made his stomach convulse. He had pleaded through his tears for them to stop, and that he didn’t want to die. They didn’t pay any attention to his pleads or sobbing, just kept on with their tests. He had tried to scream for help but the effort and the increasing pain was too much for him and he eventually passed out.

The next thing he knew was that he was laying face down in a puddle in an alley of a busy city. He didn’t know where he was, what happened after he passed out or how he came to be here. He had no identity, no money and no home, but he was free. And he would do whatever he must to get where he wanted to be. He wanted power, and power is what he was going to get. No one would ever tell him what to do again.

Well he had learned quickly that if you wanted to be the one to give orders you had to take them first. He spent his first year as a freeman loading and unloading cargo for ships that had either had just arrived or were getting ready to leave the planet –which he found out to be Coruscant.

He knew that if he wanted to be great he would have to leave Coruscant and go to some more insignificant planet for he’s greatness to be noticed. So once he had enough credits he bought a passage on the first flight out of Coruscant.

The craft was headed to Ryloth, a planet with freezing cold on one side and heat that could milt rock on the other. The unmoving, treacherous planet made the perfect place for dangerous and deadly beings to gather. It was a place that, if you were not strong enough it could break you. That’s what it almost did to him, or did it actually succeed.

But what made this planet so deadly was the stunning and graceful Twi’lik women. Their voluptuous figures made any male being heart burn with desire. Anyone foolish enough to look into their jewel-like eyes couldn’t help but fall madly in love, and Gungal was no different.

Her name had been Lamah. He had met her the first day he had came to Ry’mek, one of the many underground cities of Ryloth. She had been a captain looking for a couple of crewmembers and he needed a job. It had taken a bit of convincing, but he finally got her to agree to hire him. He could still remember her soft blue hands clasping his hand, welcoming him aboard.

The next few months were a blur except for one thing; Lamah. He knew that it was foolish to fall in love with his captain, but he didn’t care. She never reciprocated of course, and he never expected her to. She would tell him that he was a foolish boy and that he should presume his dreams instead of women, but he never listened to her. That had been his biggest mistake.

He had been working for Lamah for two years when one day they were at a port everything changed. He had come back from a bar in the city to find Lamah and her crew getting ready to leave without him. If he was careful he could still hear her soft voice. “Oh Gungal, you poor handsome fool,” she had said to him. “You really think that just because you fell for me I would let you stay on my ship forever?” She laughed and tenderly patted his cheek. “You were an okay crewmember, but I’m not looking for ‘okay’.”

After that fateful day he strove to prove her wrong. Prove to her that he was good enough, and that he was more than “okay”. Through his anger and love for Lamah he became this; The Pirate Captain Gungal. He no longer needed her approval, but he still could feel his heart calling out for her love.

Oh Lahmah, Lahmah… Why did you have to go? I loved you, why didn’t you love me?

Anger coursed through Gungal’s veins as memories flooded his mind, memories he never want remember ever again. He slammed his mug down with a force that shook the long table that he was seated at. A few of his mates look over at him with questioning looks, but they were quickly subdued with a glare from their captain. Trying to take control of his emotions again he took a big swig of his drink; hope that the ale drown out the voices of the past.

With a slight sneer the shadowed being watched the captain. The captain’s emotions were obvious to this life form, almost so much to the point where the being could taste the bitterness, anger and yes, even hatred. The being seemed to draw its energy from it, to eat it up. It even seemed in some form, to love these emotions.

            You have no idea what you are about to encounter, Captain Gungal. You though, very soon you will know just how much danger you are in.

Suddenly, without warning he felt it, the chill of cold eyes staring at him; making the hairs on the back of his neck bristle. It was as though his ghosts had could back to haunt him. Like demons they spoke to him; their voices always reminding him of what he had done then, and what he was capable of now. Was it a ghost or a form?

He looked around to see if he could find a face that looked out of place. But as he scanned the large dining chamber he started to lose the feeling of being watched and started thinking he probably should stop drinking.

     Yawning, Gungal slowly rose from his chair, or how he likes to call it “His throne”.  The world began to spin and he swayed slightly. He was starting to feel the affects of the five mugs of einpa beer he had been drinking.

     Gungal’s first mate, Hane rose too, ready to meet his captain’s needs.  Hane’s purple Rodian eyes looked over at Gungal.  His four bright green ears rotated around; trying to pick up anything out of the ordinary.

     Picking up nothing that would have alerted him, he came over to his beloved captain.  “Greer lowlry zhii bo, Torcknov?” Is everything alright, Captain? He said, once he got close enough to Gungal.

     Hane had always had great respect for his captain.  Hane had been just a young Rodian orphan, an insignificant pick-pocket in one of Rodia’s larger cities, when Gungal found him. 

     The day that Hane had met the great pirate he had started it out like all the rest of them, scanning pedestrians as they walked up and down the streets.  He would usually never show himself until he had picked the right prey.  When the being had become distracted with something else, he would weave his way through the crowd, quickly and silently.  Once he got a short distance from the being he had picked, he would yell out to nothing ahead of his victim, pretending to have seen someone he knew.  Then with the excuse to run, he would brush pass the being and bump the person lightly, stealing his or her money pouch.

     That was way he had met Gungal. Hane had done everything right, except one thing; he picked the wrong pedestrian.  He had spotted Gungal and decided to pick the man as his next victim.  But when he ran past to steal the man’s wallet, he suddenly came face to face with end of Gungal’s blaster pistol.

     Hane could remember the very words that Gungal said to him.  “That was pretty good kid, but if you want to get rich off this career of stealing you’ve set for yourself, you might want to try a different route.”

     With that, he tucked his pistol back in its cradle and walked away.  Not looking back or anything.

     Hane couldn’t help but follow the mysterious man.  He finally caught up to Gungal at one of the local bars.  He found out from one of the bartenders, that the man was looking for some tough beings to help him with a few odd jobs.  After hearing that the man was looking for some help, the eager Rodian applied for the job.  With some quick talking and a sharp tongue, Hane was able to call himself one of the great Pirate’s crew.  Now, seven years later, he was one down from the most feared pirate in the Outer Rim. 

     Hane was now looking at the same man, but instead of a powerful pirate that could make a Hutt cringe in fear with a single glare he was a man who looked ready to fall over any minute. He asked Gungal if the man was alright when he didn’t reply the first time.

     “Just had too much to drink… There is nothing to worry about Hane.”  Gungal replied, patting Hane on the back.  “I think I’ll just go to my chambers and sleep it off.”

     Hane asked his captain if he would like an escort to the clone’s chambers, knowing that the captain couldn’t hold his liquor very well.

     Gungal laughed at that question.  “Don’t be silly Hane, I’m fine.  It’s nothing that a little sleep can’t fix.”  And with that he stumbled to the door and out into the hallway.

     Hane stared out to where his captain had gone for a long moment, and then went back to paying attention to the festivities.  He laughed as one of his fellow mates tried to grab one of the Twi’lek dancers.  Rooting and making some crude comments for his friend, Hane forgot all about keeping an eye on his captain.

Watching the scene with disgust, a shadowy figure by the entrance of the large chamber listened to the pour Twi’lek girl scream.  All these pathetic criminals don’t deserve to even breathe, let alone be rich; the shadowed being thought with just a slight smirk.  And I am the one that will make sure that they will never see another day.

     Patience, little one, their will be time enough for that task.  But right now I need you to get the information that is important to our cause.

     “Yes Master” the being replied softly.  Then without a sound, the figure slipped into the hallway, and silently walked down it without anyone noticing.

In the captain’s chamber of the ship Vicious Hand, laid Gungal passed out on the floor.  The muscular clone didn’t even twitch as his door opened and an intruder entered.  He didn’t move until a deathly cold hand grabbed the back of his neck and inserted a needle in one of his nerves that ran up his spine.

     “Ow!  What was that for?” He said groggily as he turned his body to see who was in there. 

    To his surprise, it was a girl dressed in a red- almost black- tight fitting dress.  Her eyes were a reddish purple, without any emotion in them.  She had black leather gloves that went up to her elbow; matching the color of her long straight hair.  The dress she wore was cut at an angle; revealing tight pants and knee high boots, with four inch heels. 

     Without saying a word, she smiled at him, with a smile that made him even sicker to his stomach than he had been before.  What was she thinking? What did she want?  Who sent her?

     “Listen,” he said hoping he could bargain with her. “I’ll pay you twice as much as the person who sent you.  Just name your price.  I’ll give you whatever you want.”

     “What I want,” she purred, pretending to think about the proposition. “What do I want?” Then with a slight shrug of her shoulders, she gave a simple “Nothing” and opened a case she had been carrying that he had not noticed till now.

     “Nothing?”  Gungal said astonished.  “There has to be something that you want?”

     “No” she said softly.

     “Money…?”

     “Don’t need it.”

     “Power…?”

     “Nope”

     “To be feared…?”

     At that, the girl laughed; sounding like a distant breeze.  “I think Gungal, clone 375B, cloned from the bounty hunter Jango Fett… The ability to be feared by a being is an ability I already possess.  Don’t you think so too, Captain?”

     Trying to stay calm, Gungal decided to find out as much he could about this person.  “So if you don’t want anything from me, why are you here?”

     “Oh, but I do want something from you, dear Gungal.” She said, her full dark red lips curving into a sinister smile.

     “But you just said…”

     “Let me rephrase that last part.” She interrupted.  “I don’t want anything, but my Master does.”

     “And what kind of coward is your master; to send a girl to do man’s job?”  He said, laughing at the anger burning in her eyes.  Everybody has a weakness, he thought to himself.  But as soon as his victory started, it ended.

     With a speed that was impossible for any normal human the girl zoomed across the room, grabbed Gungal by the throat and slammed him against the wall.  Her eyes burned like red and purple flames as her gloved hand closed off his air supply.  He tried to unclasp her fingers from his throat, but she was just too strong.

     “You want to know what kind of a Master he is?” she whispered into his ear as he fought for his life, “The kind that wants some information from you, and knows that I can get it.”

     With that, she let go of his neck, letting him fall to the ground.  She then walked over to the open case she had set on a table.  Reaching into the case, she pulled out a small hologram frame and brought it over to him.  Turning it on, a picture of a man in his late-forties to mid-fifties appeared on the screen.

     “My Master wants to know where this man is.”  She said in a fierce tone.

     Grabbing a handful of his hair, she dragged him over to the case.  “And you ARE going to tell me.”  She lifted his head up and slammed her fist into it, to keep him from struggling too much. 

     Gungal moaned in pain that sliced through his head. He had been in many fights before and been hit by many different life forms, but this girl –that seemed no older than sixteen years- could hit harder than any of them. He tried to keep consciousness as he felt her put some kind of metal collar around his neck.  He tried to move away, but the girl’s fist had been like a vibro-hammer.  His mouth had the taste of blood in it, and he thought he felt a few loose teeth. 

     He suddenly felt a tingle in the back of his neck where she had put the needle.  The tingle started to spread across his head, until it felt like his head was being invaded by tiny bugs, crawling around in his brain.  He felt like he didn’t have control over his own mind anymore.  After a few long moments, Gungal fell into a deep sleep.

Smiling down at the now sleeping clone, Trii’a put the memory scanner back into its place in the black case.  She had done everything to her Master’s standards.  He was going to be very proud of her.  All that she had to do now was destroy all the evidence that she had ever been here.

     Getting up and walking out the door, Trii’a pulled out a bag of what looked like marbles.     

     As she walked through the hallways of the Vicious Hand, she would drop the pitch black marbles every few meters.  The clank of the small objects echoed through out the ship, but no one took notice; for all the crew were in the dining chamber having a merry good time.

     Making it to where the escape pods were held, she dropped one marble in each pod except for one.  Her black leather boots made no sound as she got to the last pod.   The quiet swish of her clothes was all you could hear as she opened the hatch and slipped into the pod.

     Once in the escape pod, Trii’a started it up.  The controls came to life, and she pushed several buttons to start up the craft.  She could hear the hum of the pod’s starter jets as they ignited.  Then with a slight jolt, the pod shot out into space and away from the ship.

     Turning her head, Trii’a watched through the back view-hole, as the Vicious Hand began to get smaller and smaller.  She couldn’t help but laugh at the stupidity of all those criminals in the ship.

     Looking down at the case, she pulled out a small detonator.  This tiny object was all she needed to complete the job.  All she had to do was push it and this part of her journey would be over.  One push of her finger and the infamous Vicious Hand will be nothing but empty space.

     Flipping the safety cover off the detonator, she rested her thumb on the trigger.  With a victorious grin she said softly to herself, “Let’s bring on the heat.”  Then she pressed the button, and watched the ship explode into brilliant colors.





(Section III)

“Ahhh!” Mai-yen roared as she blocked with her left arm.  At the same time she rammed the hard part of her palm into the droid’s abdomen, making it lose its balance for just a second.  But a second was all Mai-yen needed. 

     Anticipating that the droid would try to regain its balance by taking a few steps backwards, she bent even lower than she had been before; like a coiled bastba ready for an attack.  Then with speed that was surprising even for her, she pushed off with her left foot at the same time that she kicked out with the other, hitting the droid squarely in the chest; the impact severely bending the droid’s metal ribs and crushing its mechanical heart.

     Flying over the fallen droid, Mai-yen’s feet hit the floor without making a sound.  Then with momentum still pushing her, she tucked into a roll and came back up into a fighting stance, ready for anything that would come her way.

     She wiped a damp black and white strand of her hair from her face.  Her muscles ached from fighting for so long, but she couldn’t quit now.  Just then four more of the H2H combat droids surrounded her cutting off all her chances of escape.  As if she really needed it. 

     Closely eyeing the well oiled joints of the droids, Mai-yen tried to determine what their next move was going to be. Like she had expected, the droid that was directly behind her attacked first.  Spinning on her heels she turned to face the droid that was ready to grab her.  She was able to push its arms away from her, by making a circular motion with her own, until her hands came to land on the droids shoulders. 

     As soon she had done this action, she realized what a mistake it was.  The droid that had first been in front of her and now directly behind her was running towards her at full speed. 

     Thinking quickly she jumped up so that she was eye to eye with the large droid. At the same time pulling her arms down- still holding on to the droid- and her right knee up, connecting the droids head to her leg, and breaking its neck circuit.  That droid wouldn’t be getting up any time soon.    

     Still suspended in the air, and with her leg still curled close to her chest, she waited less than a moment. She then kicked out backwards towards the droid behind her.  She could feel her foot hit something hard; letting her know that she had connected with her target.

     As her feet landed on the ground she had only a second to get her balance before the droid to her left came over and kicked.  Preparing to kick her squarely in the chest, it twisted its mechanical hip as it swung its back leg out to its side; making a perfect round-house kick… Well it would have been perfect, if Mai-yen hadn’t anticipated the move, and acted on it.

     With the grace of a monkey-cat and the strength of a Wookiee, Mai-yen grabbed the droid’s kicked out leg with both hands, stopping it only inches from her body.  Without pause she turned her torso to the left, lifting the droid she had a hold of up and taking it with her. 

     Like a huge mechanical bat, the droids flew through the air.  Its arms waved helplessly in the air as it made an arch around Mai-yen’s body.  It tried to regain its balance, but it did not matter what the droid did, its course was already set.

     As the droid that Mai-yen had a hold of went around her body, it came to connect with the droid to her left.  Pieces of droid parts sprayed across the room as they crashed into each other, the sound of crunching metal echoed throughout the chamber.

     Coming up to the two droid’s heads, she bent down to one of them, and with incredible power, she reached down and pulled out the neck circuits.  The smell of hydraulic fluid filled the air as it squirted out the broken tubes. 

     That only made two more to dispose of and then she could take a breather. 

     Tossing the wires and tubes- from the now deceased robot- aside, she quickly dealt with other in the same matter, before focusing on the working droids.  But as she turned to scan the area for the droid, its metal hand grabbed her around the neck from behind and lifted her off the ground to face it.  She tried to loosen its grip from her throat, but its metal hand clapped harder; cutting off her air supply.

     Mai-yen could feel herself fading.  Quickly acting without thought, she grabbed the droid’s forearm and lifted her body, so that it was parallel to its arm.  Then, hooking her left leg around the large metallic arm, she kicked it in the head hard, with her right leg three times. 

     Stunned and disoriented, the H2H droid dropped her at its feet.  She watched on the ground as it swayed back and fourth; trying to regain its balance.  And before it was able to make sense out of up and down again, she kicked both its knee joints; making both the knees bend backwards.

     Watching in triumph from the floor, she saw the powerful droids crashed to the ground.  Good, that was the last of them, she thought with exhilaration.  Then turning on her stomach, she started to push herself up.  But before she could jump to her feet a large metal hand grabbed her by her hair and pushed her head closer to the ground.  The droid’s hand was like a vice-grip on her hair, making it impossible to get free. 

     Before she could do anything the H2H droid started to drag her towards one of the displays of weapons on the wall.  Sharp pain shot through her skull as it pulled her closer and closer to the deadly weapons.  All the droid had to do was get to the wall and grab one of those large knifes, and this game would be over, permanently.

     Mai-yen had to do something, before she became a headless fighter- something that was not on her to do list. 

     Grabbing the hand of the terrible killing machine with both of hers, she tried to pull herself to her knees.  But it was no use; the droid was just too strong.  Then she heard it; the sound of one of the ancient knifes being taken off its stand.  She had little time to act in just a few seconds she was going to become vornsker food.

     It looks like you are not as powerful as I had thought.  The voice said with a disappointing tone; making the anger in Mai-yen boil up and over.

     Great it was back. Mai-yen thought was frustration. Don’t judge a fight before you know what the warriors are completely capable of.  She said; speaking through the Force that she hated so much.

     Then show me exactly what you are capable of! Oh, and you might want to do it fast, because you’re about to lose your last competition.

     “Fine!” she roared out loud.

     With her adrenaline pumping from rage and fear for her life, she dug her fingernails into the flesh like membrane of the droid’s hand.  Then with strength that surprised her, she dug deeper into the mechanical hand and pulled out some of the circuits inside; making it so the droid could not control its own hand. 

     Pulling off the heavy hand from her head, she pushed herself up with the other hand.  She rose to her feet to find that the droid that had had a hold of her was the same one she had kneed in the face.  Well that makes one more to go, and then this battle will be over, she thought with frustration.

     “I may have failed at destroying you once, I wont this time!” She screamed at the droid in her irritation as it charged her with its blade held high.

     It seemed like every movement the droid made was in rhythm with a tone that Mai-yen knew backwards and forwards.  She moved her body easily to the left and right as the huge droid tried to cut off her head with the well made weapon.  She was just waiting for an opening, so she could finish this battle and get to the next that awaited her.

     The droid made a swift slash at Mai-yen’s body with its powerful arm.  She Jumping away from the blade, she quickly reached up and grabbed the back of the droid’s wrist.  With a hard twist, she was able to turn its arm so its metal elbow was pointing up in a weird position.  Then taking her own elbow, she rammed it right above the droid’s elbow; breaking the joint from inside its metal armor.

     Dropping the large knife, the H2H droid tried to grab Mai-yen, but with one of its arms broken and the other hand too, it couldn’t.  Seeing that she had the upper hand, or you could say “the only hands that worked”, she quickly grabbed for the weapon that was on the floor by her.

     Once her hand wrapped around the handle of the knife, she felt a surge of energy.  It was like opening a video-hologram of the whole history of the hand-crafted knife, but from the perspective from the weapon.  She could feel every battle it had been through.  Within a half of second she knew everything about this weapon and how to use it.

     She twisted the blade skillfully in her hand, positioning it so that she was able to fight back handed.  She then took the offence with her opponent, kicking, punching and slashing at the droid’s big metal body.  Moving with speed and grace, she took her mechanical adversary down piece by piece, until it was just a pile of wires, circuits and shards of metal.

      Breathing hard from the long battle she had been fighting, she slowly turned to scan for any droids she missed.  Sweat poured down her round face as she brushed loose strands of her- jaw-bone length- hair.  She could barely see from the sweat and blood that was in her eyes.  She couldn’t go on much longer. 

     She wanted so much for this battle to over, but knew that it wasn’t over.  She knew that there was something wrong.

     “Where are you hiding?” she said under her breath.  Shaking her head, she realized how stupid she was being.  There was no other opponent for her to fight. 

     Then she felt it, a tingling feeling that ran up her spine that made her have a strong urge to turn around.  As she did she realize why.  There in the steel rafters was the droid that she thought she had brought down first, its body ready to pounce.

     “Why don’t you just die already,” was all she said as the droid leaped down at her. 

     She was not able to move before it crashed into her body.  The blow felt like she had just been hit in the gut by a speeder.  She could feel her body go down with the impact as though she was moving through water.  She couldn’t breathe or think, except for the pain that she was in.  Her head hit the ground, so hard that it dented the steel flooring.  Then everything went black.


~Continue on Chapter 2~