So Cold (Loklorien)

[Ecks]

Hoth.

The Falleen bounty hunter adjusted his armor over the thin warmsuit he was wearing as a concession to the frigid temperatures of the ice planet. The warmsuit was made of a special, and very expensive material specially designed for cold blooded sentients to wear in extreme temperatures. He hoped it worked - otherwise it would be a short trip into the arctic conditions outside of his ship.

Ecks adjusted the goggles on his face, having discarded his usual spiked eye-patch in favor of weather appropriate eyewear to protect his remaining eye. He'd filed the appropriate B23-1-14 permit with the Empire, stating his intention to collect this specific bounty. He didn't want them to weasel out of the impressive five million credits promised upon collection of Loklorien s'Ilancy.

The mandatory live capture was a slight hang up, but she was female, and females always found it hard to resist the Falleen. Even one as ugly as Ecks.

He checked his blaster rifle for the third time, and checked on the beacon he'd managed to slip onto s'Ilancy's ship at her last port of call. She was a wily prey, and he didn't expect her to come easy. Ecks strapped on his wrist gauntlets and then headed for the hatch of his ship. He had a long journey ahead of him - he hadn't risked detection by landing too close to the witch's little ship.

Jedi. He doubted that very much, but time would tell.

Ecks stomped out of his ship into the snow, closing up the hatch and working his way through the powdery white stuff towards the rear of the ship. Opening the doors to the small rear cargo bay he unloaded his speeder, equipped with the second-best in cold weather equipment designed to keep the engine running, no matter what. After locking up the hold (just big enough for the speeder and a specially designed cage), Ecks straddled the seat and shot off in the direction of the still rising sun.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

While just as remote as Cathar, s'Il found Hoth to be far less an enjoyable place. There were no heady aromas or scents of spice carried on the wind. No, the wind on this frozen planet was as chilling as the surface, carrying no smell on it save that of... nothing. It wasn't without its' own ways though, and the Lupine had spent her descent marveling at how pristine and untouched the snowswept landscape appeared. The white made it look so clean, and for a brief few moments she'd pondered on the reasons why her people had chosen to build another of their strongholds on Hoth. The outward appearence of cleanliness made sense, and if her ancestors had seen fit to construct a hidden 'home', then the surface itself must have held true to its' illusion.

That was three days ago.

On the morning of the fourth day, far from where the shuttle had landed and seemingly in the middle of nowhere, a great, grey-backed vornskr loped easily through a snowcovered valley. Speckled with snow, the beast continued as if unhindered by the cold. Every so often it would stop to sniff at the air, or at a breeze that had found its' way down one of the mountainsides. Sometimes it would veer off to the side, its' attention caught by the possibility of a quick meal. For the most part however, the animal kept a constant, unchanging pace in the same direction.

After what seemed like ages, the vornskr came out of the valley and onto the beginnings of a vast tundra. It stopped then, lowering to its' haunches for a moment's rest and affording a tawny gaze to an expanse that seemed to stretch out into forever.

[Ecks]

A white cover thrown over the speeder concealed it nicely against the powdery frozen dihydrogenoxide, and Ecks traveled the rest of the distance towards the mark's ship on foot. Bellying up to a ridge, his green skin covered by the white warmsuit and his armor whitened to blend with the snow, the Falleen bounty hunter peered down at the little ship known as the Black Cat. It was singularly unimpressive, and clearly abandoned at the moment.

There were no human footprints in the vincinity, though he'd come across a few criss-crossing canine prints that seemed to be from the same animal. Perhaps s'Ilancy had attracted a predator and had gotten eaten. If he could recover the body, or most of the body, he might be able to reap some reward for his efforts.

After fifteen minutes of scanning the area, Ecks backed down from the ridge, brushing away most of the indentation he'd made into the snow. The wind was picking up and was swirling some of the powder into the air, which would help cover his tracks, but he was a heavy being and his tracks were deep. But s'Ilancy would be his before too much longer.

After three hours of stalking an ever-widening circle around the Cat, and another hour on the speeder, Ecks was wondering if the woman had wandered too far the night before and gotten herself buried in a snow drift. Human females, even warriors, even Jedi, could only cover so much distance in a certain amount of time. The nights were much too cold for her to spend away from her ship, yet she was nowhere to be found within the appropriate perimeter.

He stopped the speeder in the shadow of a cliff, and poked his head into a divit in the rock wall. It was too small for the wampa ice creatures to nest within, but it paid to be cautious. It was starting to snow, and he spent a few moments resting inside the overhang. He would have to return to his ship before the storm got worse, but he used a few minutes of quiet to ponder his mark. Ecks leaned against the inside of the shallow cave, his armor rubbing against a nub of rock. He used it to try to scratch an itch just below his shoulder blade.

He fell through the ground and into darkness.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Late afternoon brought with it at first a light falling of snow, but the vornskr seemed to show caution as it stopped its' wanderings to smell the air. Whatever it detected was something that it didn't find all too pleasing, and letting out a puff of steam through its' nostrils, the creature turned on its' heels to head back the way it'd come.

As with many things, the way back 'home' seemed shorter than the way out, and so the vornskr chose an easy pace, loping back into the valley. In a short time however, the snowfall began to increase until an ever-falling blanket of white obscured all vision. A [i]hurff[/], and the beast veered to the left, having thankfully spotted a small cave. This storm would need to be avoided, and instinct told the animal that it would be best to do so within shelter, no matter how shallow or seemingly insignificant.

Ducking into the darkness, the vornskr turned to regard the snow outside, falling now in droves. A rumble deep in its' throat sounded, as an almost human sounding sigh followed.

And then something new reached its' senses; a smell.

From something that did not belong to Hoth.

[Ecks]

It was pitch black and the Falleen stirred slowly from where he'd fallen. After a time, Ecks got to his feet, his head feeling like an overripe namani fruit. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, but whatever hole he'd fallen through seemed to have closed up again over his head. A hole sophisticated enough not to allow any light or air inside.

The bounty hunter snapped a glowrod, illuminating his surroundings with blue light. As he'd fallen he had clipped his head on something hard before hitting the ground, and as the Falleen turned around he was faced with what that something was. A stone statue of a regal looking beast, its muzzle smeared with green blood. He reached up and touched his head - the warmsuit hood had been torn and was wet. His head hurt.

Scanning the smooth walls, he could see no obvious way back to the surface. There were dusty murals painted on the walls, and the air was stale. But if the trapdoor was not the usual way of entering this chamber, then there had to be a main door somewhere. Ecks slipped the glowrod through an elastic strap on his arm, then snapped a second rod and fixed it to his other arm as he made his way through the chamber.

Then he noticed something else - his breath didn't mist up. His head ached, and he suddenly was overcome by a wave of nausea. Staggering, Ecks vomited on the stone floor of the chamber, taking a knee for a moment until the dizziness passed.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

A sensitive nose sought out the smell, pushing through loose pebbles and sand that covered the cave floor. The vorsnkr sneezed then; this dirt had recently been moved...

Along the ground to the wall, and finally up. Such a smell! This was certainly not from Hoth, it didn't even smell the same as any of the other indiginous life that had been scented earlier in the day. It was almost tangible, and if the beast could see in anything but a monochromatic scale, it would have imagined a faintly green scent-cloud.

The animal reared up on its' hind legs then, paws splaying out against the rock wall to steady its' frame as nose was almost mashed into rock. Claws scraped and scrabbled as the vornskr moved about, trying to pinpoint where the smell was going. One paw brushed gently against a nub, and the animal put more of its' weight forward.

The softest of ta-clicks.

And then the floor fell away and the vornskr disappeared.

[Ecks]

The chamber narrowed into a wide passageway, and the bounty hunter knelt beside a smaller statue - a bust of some kind - to apply a bacta patch to the side of his head. Peeling the ragged edges of the warmsuit away from the cut, he stuck the patch in roughly the right spot and pressed the edges down to seal it.

It felt like stampeding banthas were holding a demolition derby in his head.

Ecks steadied himself, and continued on his way. The passage was long, and there were only a few intersecting corridors. They were much narrower, and he dismissed them as unimportant. The wide passage was most likely to lead to another entrance. If there was one. A noise echoed up the hallway from the chamber behind him, and the Falleen ducked into a niche in the wall, the glowrods quickly removed and stuffed into pockets to douse the light.

Some people would call him paranoid, but it paid to be cautious in his line of work.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Far from gracefull, the vornskr landed in a fantastic pile of limbs, accompanied by a surprised yelp. It took a few minutes to clear its' senses, but once that was done, the animal lifted its' gaze. It was dark, but not too dark to allow the animal blind, and it sniffed at the air. The same smell was here, but something new was as well. Ears waggling back and forth, the vornskr caught sight of a statue.

It could have been a mirror image to the flesh and blood beast that now stood staring back at its' granite eyes. Instantly the foreign scent was dismissed and forgotten... this statue was a herald; a sign.

As if possessed, the vornskr wheeled around and took up an easy lope down the connecting passageway. In the back of its' mind, it noted that the strange smell was getting stronger as it went. The animal passed by a few side passages, but those were ignored.

Long tail streaming behind it, the vornskr continued on, deeper into this newly-discovered underground cave.

[Ecks]

The sounds he heard indicated an animal of some kind, most likely falling in the same way he had. Ecks eased his blaster out of its holster, his eyes adjusting to the almost darkness of the passage. It seemed that there was a light source of some kind up ahead, but with the glowrods illuminating the way he hadn't noticed.

Claws scratched against the stone floor, and a low shape streaked past the bounty hunter's hiding place. He hesitated, blaster in hand, his bulk still concealed in the niche. The hall was growing lighter by the minute, it was no illusion. But what had activated the lights? And where was the power coming from?

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Further on the animal went, intent on finding a way into what had to be an antechamber, a grand hall, anything. Its' body moved easily at a relaxed, smooth pace. It wasn't long before the corridor opened up into a cavern. A doorway stood on the far wall, and glowrods that'd been embedded into the marble flooring grew steadily brighter.

In their soft illumination, the vornskr cast a stare to the walls, rewarded with the sight of more carved statues; some human and others vornskrs. The smell that had originally brought her into this cave was now completely forgotten, and the beast slowly lowered to its' haunches, movements slow as if in reverence.

[Ecks]

Working his way silently up the passage, Ecks kept his blaster in hand as he followed whatever it was that had fallen in after him. Still dizzy from the blow to his head, it was hard work being quiet, but he bullied his body into doing what he wanted.

Peering into a cavern, the bounty hunter saw more statues against the walls, and a single doorway on the far side of the vast room. The statues were humanoid and canine, and there was no sign of anything else in the room.

Cautious, but also curious, Ecks stepped into the cavern intent on investigating the door and the glowrods that now were lighting up the entire room. One of the statues was facing the wall instead of away from it, but he didn't pay it much mind.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Sitting entranced, the vornskr swiveled its' ears back at the sound of footfalls behind. The exotic smell from earlier now pervaded its' senses, and head turning, it looked back at the one that'd entered the chamber of statues.

A blaster in hand could be made out, and the beast stood then, turning to face the stranger, tail lazily swishing to and fro.

[Ecks]

Movement startled him, though it shouldn't have, and Ecks brought his blaster to bear on the vornskr. The name came to his mind as he noted the bony tail on the creature - though he couldn't remember much else about the beasts but their name. They weren't native to Hoth, that was for damn sure.

They stood in silence for a few moments, and the bounty hunter hesitantly cleared his throat. "Uh, easy there..." His voice was rough and low.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

A snort, and the animal cocked its' head, ears forward.

So this was what that smell came from; strange. As the vornskr stared, it opened its' toothy maw in what could only be the grotesque form of a smile. And while one of its' eyes was a sightless white, the other shone with a deceptively intelligent, tawny yellow sheen.

The glowrods cast its' normally silvery-grey hide in a blue tint, and cautiously, the vornskr put a paw forward, testing the stranger.

[Ecks]

The creature stepped forward, and split into two. The Falleen's blaster arm wavered between the two visions, and then the vornskr coalesced into a single beast once more. Ecks blinked his eye, wondering how he could have double vision with only one eyeball, but then shoved the thought away.

As the beast lifted its paw again to take another step the bounty hunter lifted his own foot and took a step to the side. If he circled around the vornskr he'd end up with his back to the doorway.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

With every step it took, it seems the stranger took on as well. Hrm. There was that glint of thought again in the animal's eye, and it stopped.

For a few moments it remained motionless. This game could go on and on, and the call of this new place was almost too alluring. The desire to explore was quickly growing over the desire to find out about this newcomer.

Perhaps though, both could be achieved at once.

With no indication, the vornskr wheeled about, and set off at an easy jog toward the doorway that would take it deeper into the underground stronghold.

[Ecks]

Ecks would have sighed, if he were a sighing type of person. When the animal turned about and loped through the doorway, the bounty hunter shifted his blaster to a two handed grip, and cautiously followed.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Deeper into the depths of the stronghold went the vornskr, intent on exploration. It moved easily through the hallways and corridors as if it'd been here before, a certain ease of mind and body evident in the way it moved.

Down a small flight of steps, up a few more; this structure meandered seemingly everywhere in an as yet unkown pattern. But that mattered not, as the vornskr kept on.

Through magnificient pillar-lined halls and ornately decorated rooms the beast went, its' tail trailing behind it like a bony, barb-tipped streamer. Every so often it would stop to smell the air, but that was soon abandoned for more exploration. The deeper in it went, the more opulant the place became; tapestries lining walls, busts and statues depicting long-ago Lupines, and even intricate murals of the rise and fall of the Lupine race. So beautiful iin the light of the glowrods, so ancient in the eye of the beast. It was enough to give the vornskr pause many times, as it seemed unable to do anything but stare.

Soon enough however, the animal happened upon what it had been searching for; a pair of grand double doors, closed centuries before no doubt, to never be opened until now. Standing to the left side of what had to be the Grand Room, the vornskr approached it slowly out of respect. It stopped at the doors, craning its' neck upwards to take in the intricate carving etched into the wood, and carefully, reverently, a paw was lifted and placed on the crack that seperated the two doors at the center.

Only, it wasn't exactly a paw... it was growing smaller, and the grey fur it held was now receding.

[Ecks]

Ecks was having trouble keeping up with the vornskr. The beast acted like it knew where it was going, and most animals had some sort of sixth or seventh sense when it came to getting out of unusual places, or finding their way home. The bounty hunter was counting on the creature leading him out of this place.

"This place," however, was looking more and more like the inside of a skyhook on Coruscant, and not so much a hole in the surface of Hoth. The beast stopped many times, staring at the walls or at something else in whatever room they happened to be in. It didn't seem to care that Ecks was trailling along behind it, several yards back.

Finally they came to a set of huge double doors, and the vornskr paused once more. Ecks leaned against a doorway, just out of sight, and looked around the corner into the room. The beast seemed confounded by the doors, and the bounty hunter wondered if he should go open them for it.

The beast pawed at the door, and Ecks looked away to double check his back up blaster. When he looked back his eye almost fell out of his head. It was her!

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

No longer in such a beautifully savage form, the naked form of a woman gently pushed against the two double doors. They came open without so much as a squeak in protest, and the woman slipped through to disappear into the dark beyond.

She knew this room, even if the glowrods in the floor had not activated yet. It smelled of steel and leather mixed with fine linen and incense. From the vaulted ceiling she could just barely make out the hanging banners that carried the House Brand. They hung in rows all down the lentgh on the long room, and as the glowrods began to softly illuminate her surroundings, the Brands on each hanging banner became more visible.

She recognized them, and inclined her head out of respect for the stronghold of the House of Su'beate.

This took but a moment though, and looking back up, Loklorien s'Ilancy began making her way down the length of the room, intent on the far wall and the massive mako wood chest that could be seen there.

[Ecks]

Now this was unexpected. Loklorien s'Ilancy was some sort of shapeshifter. A shapeshifting Jedi. Or, suspected Jedi. Ecks watched her disappear into the dark room, and after a few moments the glowrods within began to activate.

He switched his blaster to stun, and eased forward, his bulk surprisingly quiet as he made his way towards the double doors that his mark had gone through. As the Falleen came too the doorway, he could see her walking, naked, to a large brown chest at the other end of the room. She gave no indication that she was aware of his presence, but she must know that he was there.

Ecks sighted down his blaster at the base of her neck, and pulled the trigger.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

So soon after the change, her senses were at their peak. She could hear everything it seemed, including the slight footfalls of the one behind her. Even the slightest scraping of his hand on the handle of a blaster being raised could be heard, and the click that the trigger made just before firing was enough to warn her that moving would be a good idea.

The Lupine sidestepped right, only to be swallowed by the shadows that dominated the far sides of the room behind rows of pillars. Her bare feet made hardly a sound as she crouched low, using a pillar as a momentary hiding spot.

Her voice came out then, reverberating throughout the entire room; calm with an underlying tone of disgust.

"This is holy ground. Put your weapon away."

[Ecks]

The expanding blue energy rings of the stun blast melted into darkness as the woman moved out of the way with surprising quickness. Ecks cursed mentally, and moved to his left, putting a pillar between him and the side of the room s'Ilancy had disappeared into.

"This is holy ground. Put your weapon away."

He thought about that a moment. "I'm not religious." His voice was gravelly, and he pulled the skintight hood of his warmsuit down. It felt too constricting, and it seemed that he might have to move quickly if she chose to attack him. Ecks took advantage of his Falleen phsyiology by actively releasing pheremones into the air around him.

He might have been the ugliest Falleen in the galaxy, but the ladies loved him.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"Pity."

As she spoke, s'Il smoothly stood up, still mindful to keep the pillar between herself and her assailent. Which, that in itself was an odd thing, since she had never before seen the man nor had any knowledge that she had done anyone any wrong; of course, he could have been sent by Executor Sevon, or was somehow connected to the Imperial, but there was no way of knowing.

A new scent reached her nose then, and she took pause, examining it for the briefest of moments. Pheremones. She would have to be on her guard.

Carefully, the Lupine inched tward one of the continuous cabinets that lined the walls.

This was the House Su'beate armory, after all, and there was no end to what she would find housed in this room.

[Ecks]

"Gonna try to save my soul?" He couldn't hear her moving around, but knew that logically she was. So he did, as well.

Creeping up the length of the room, his eye adjusted to the semi-darkness behind the pillars enough so he could see that the walls were lined with cabinets. Ecks progressed up three pillars before pausing and listening.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Almost idly, while carefully opening one of the many cabinet doors, s'Il answered him.

"If I was religious myself, perhaps."

Inside the cabinet was a small assortment of short bladed weapons laying upon long silken sheets. s'Il smiled lightly to herself before quietly moving the blades to the side in order to gain access to the cloth.

Some form of covering was better than none in her current predicament, and the Lupine pulled the material from its' resting place, wrapping it around her lower half and tying it off at her hip.It was soft against her skin, and the sheer fabric felt as though it belonged on her.

One of the blades, an intricate piece made from white sunstone and steel was tucked into her waistline, and the Lupine stepped once more to stand just behind a pillar, still very much aware of the pheremones in the air. They were mildly intriuging, but she remained on her guard.

She surprsed herself, at how calmly she was treating this situation, as if findingone of the lost homes of her people and being shot at were daily occurances. She felt no inkling of the Man in Black, and so ruled him out as the causebehind such an attack.

And so, the Lupine opted for a bit more of a direct approach.

"Tell me; do you make it a habit to shoot at naked, unarmed strangers?"

[Ecks]

He thought about that for a moment. "No."

The bounty hunter eased to one side of the pillar, trying to catch a glimpse of his prey on the other side of the room. It would take some time for the pheremones to make it to where she was, and without her being nearer to him they wouldn't have much effect. Ecks popped his neck, his blaster up and ready, still set on stun.

"Not many naked strangers have a five million credits bounty on their heads."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Pausing for a moment to reflect on his words, the Lupine found herself more than a bit confused by them.

Five million? She stepped quietly to stand behind another pillar; this one closer to where the chest sat at the very end of the room.

"That's an awful lot of money," was her mused reply.

Another few silent steps took her behind another pillar.

"I suppose you feel yourself to be in a rather fortunate situation then."

[Ecks]

She was working her way to the back of the room. Ecks shifted his focus to follow the sound of her voice. He thumbed the blaster off of stun, and aimed lopsidedly at the chest that was just visible from his position.

"Whatever you want in that chest, you should probably tell me if its worth keeping around. Because I'll destroy it before you can reach it." The bounty hunter made his way up to the next pillar, getting a better position to make good on his threat.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

This stopped her, and the Lupine pursed her lips in annoyance.

"Proper clothing," was the curt answer.

Her short time with Serena was put to the test, as the fledgling calm and patience she had begun to develop beneath the watchful eye of the other woman was being put to the test. s'Il could feel the old tendencies rise and fall, but the desire to be as she once had been was stronger.

Stepping to the side of the pillar so that the stranger could see her, and her him, she spread her arms to indicate her state of dress. "For five million credits, I think at least I can be allowed my dignity."

[Ecks]

It took half a second to change the setting on his blaster with a flick of his finger. Ecks pulled the trigger, hitting Loklorien s'Ilancy with a stun blast.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Though fast, the Lupine still took a glancing hit. She reeled back out of view behind another pillar, sliding down its' length to kneel on the marbled floor.

A wave of nausea swept over her, and s'Il closed a hand over the handle of the blade that she'd slid into the waistline of her temporary clothing.

So much for dignity...

[Ecks]

Stepping forward as the woman stumbled, Ecks broke into a run as she slipped behind a pillar. Crossing the room in a few short strides, the bounty hunter squeezed the trigger as he took a wide circle around where she'd fallen, shooting before she was fully in sight. Jedi, or shapeshifters... or both... were reputed to have the ability to shake off stun blasts, and he didn't intend to allow her time to morph back into her vornskr form.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

The hand that went around the blade shifted momentarily, nails going to points and fingers thickening for only a few seconds before once again reverting to slender human hands.

The sound of the bounty hunter's stun blasts reached her ears, but she was already moving. Making sure to keep the pillar between herself and her adversary, the Lupine pulled the knife from its' resting place and flipped it expertly so that the blade was held delicately between two fingers.

In a burst of speed, she left her cover. Taking scant milliseconds to gauge the distance between the two, s'Il pulled her arm back and let fly, the blade almost literally singing through the air on a path toward the hunter.

[Ecks]

Ecks grunted as the knife slammed into his chest, bouncing off his armor and falling off to the side. It hit hard enough to throw off his aim as his blaster barked again, coecentric rings of blue energy barely touching the Jedi's arm as he fired.

He stepped on the knife, just in case she felt like pulling a Jedi trick and using it again. She ducked behind another pillar and he moved to track her movement.

A wave of dizziness came over him, and suddenly he was on the ground, retching.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Under cover once more, s'Il quickly took stock of her situation - it was... less than acceptable to say the least.

There was a pause in his barrage then, and the Lupine risked a quick glance at him. Her eyes narrowed at what she saw, and with a grunt matching his own, she ducked back, allowing the beginning of her change.

It was a swift transformation, her form hunching to the ground in one swift move - human one moment, a mass of shifting bone and muscle the next, and finally a vornskr the last.

Quick as anything, the Lupine was tearing back the way she'd come, keeping to the outer edges of the room while taking advantage of the hunters' momentary incapacitation.

[Ecks]

Ecks heard claws scraping on the stone, and the glow of the room faded into total blackness. He fumbled in his pockets, pulling out the glowrods he'd activated earlier, casting a green illumination from where they lay on the ground.

His eye rolled up in his head and ...

Nothing.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

The beast slid to a halt just before the door of the room, casting a furtive glance behind her at the chest on the far wall - still sitting unopened. Her eye went to the form of the hunter then, motionless upon the floor.

Against her better judgment, the Lupine turned back and began at a clipped jog - along the edge of the room - to the far wall and the chest.

She kept the hunter in her peripheral vision though, conscious of the fact that his state could very well be a ruse.

A short time later, the naked form of the Lupine was kneeling before the chest, and almost reverently she unclasped the latch that held it shut.

The lid opened easily to reveal the contents within.

[Ecks]

The bounty hunter did not move as the Jedi unlatched the chest. The room slowly illuminated itself once more as she reached inside.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

The first thing to meet her eyes was a long, neatly folded wrap-around. Carefully the Lupine pulled it out and set it gently on the marble floor beside her. A hard leather corset followed, as well as leather arm guards and an upper chest cover. Every piece of leather had been intricately stamped and carefully constructed, the designs and patterns weaving in and out of each other.

At the bottom of the chest was a sword, the handle wrapped in black leather to match its' sheath.

Minutes later, the Lupine was clad in black leather armor, the once folded wrap-around now connected to metal rings at her waist in such a way that it fell elegantly to her booted feet. She cut an exotic figure in this new apparel, and her hair fell down to partially cover the exposed Brand between her shoulder blades.

Sword grasped in one hand, she pulled it from the sheath. It nearly sang as it came from its' housing.

Turning then, s'Il began heading for the unconscious bounty hunter...

[Ecks]

He stirred from his position on the floor, his head aching and his eyesight blurry. Slowly turning onto his side, Ecks caught sight of an armored figure heading for him, and he lurched to his knees. He grabbed for his blaster but it defied him and remained on the floor so he put his hand on his backup.

He felt like all nine levels of hell had been conglomerated together and pressed into his skull. There was no time to do anything before she could have him decapitated with that sword she'd managed to find while he'd been out, so Ecks did what came naturally. He released his Falleen pheremones, hoping to be able to seduce her before she could kill him.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

A determination shone in her eyes, as the Lupine strode closer to the hunter. She didn't raise the sword she carried, instead keeping it in a firm grip, ready to be used should he lunge.

And then, something hit her. Not in any physical sense, this olfactory blow was something else entirely, and the Lupine seemed to almost slightly stumble. Instead, she slowed to a halt, a strange mix of emotions playing across her face as this new smell rolled into her. It was that same exotic scent she'd picked up faintly before this whole ordeal began.

s'Il stood motionless, an inner battle raging between the rational part of her mind and the much more careless nature of desire.

[Ecks]

He could barely see her through his blurry vision, but her body relaxed into a softer stance. The sword remained at her side, and he slowly propped himself up on one elbow as his pheremones continued to seep into the air around them.

His voice was rough and gravelly, and for a Falleen he was ugly, but some females liked their males tough and scarred. Not that it mattered in this paticular situation. "Come closer, Loklorien."

They shared something, predator and prey, and it went beyond the fact that they only had two good eyes between them. The thrill of the hunt, and of being hunted - they both knew it well. He fixed her with his eye, willing her to step forward, to want to give herself to his arms.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

A step forward, and then she stopped again rather abruptly.

The Lupine let the scent of him fill her nostrils, and she drank deeply of his pheremones. It was intoxicating; she could see them veritably swirling between the two.

At his words, s'Il gripped the handle of the sword tighter, yet still found herself stepping forward once more. Her gait slow, she inwardly fought with herself - her body wanting to obey this Falleen stranger, and her mind fighting tooth and nail against the notion. the rising desire she felt was a hollow one she knew, but the Lupine's defenses began to slowly erode the closer she drew to him.

She thought of Dan then, her knuckles turning white with the force of her grip on the sword handle.

And then she was within reaching distance of the Falleen. s'Il stopped, finally able to will her body into obediance, however in the back of her mind she feared that her efforts had been too late.

[Ecks]

He lunged towards her from his position on the floor as she came one step close enough. Ecks grabbed the hand that held the sword, pushing strong fingers into pressure points in the Jedi's wrist to force her to drop it. With his other hand the bounty hunter grabbed her by the neck as the force of his weight sent them both crashing to the ground.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il clung doggedly to the blade despite the Falleen's grip on her own hand, driving his fingers into the sensitive portions of her joints. She grit her teeth, feeling his other hand close around her neck as the two hit the marbled floor in a decidedly less than graceful landing.

She landed with a painful hurff, the jarring crash helping to wrest the sword from her grip. It clattered against the ground a short distance away as her free hand grasped his wrist in an effort to loose his grip from her throat.

[Ecks]

Ecks had most of his body on top of hers, his weight helping press the air out of her lungs as he tried to choke her out of consciousness. Once she was unconscious he'd cuff her and figure out how to get back to his ship.

The sword was out of her hand, but he kept the pressure up on her wrist in a one-handed submisison hold that made it feel like he was seconds away from breaking her arm.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

With a snarl, s'Il released her hold on his wrist with her free hand; instead sending it to his neck, she jammed it up beneath the underside of his jaw. Her hand might not have been big enough to fit around his entire neck, but she could do just as much damage despite her hand's small size.

His hold on her other wrist was painful, but she ignored it - if it broke it would mend. Her focus was on one of the larger arteries in his neck that carried precious oxygen to his brain, and with vicious intent the Lupine began squeezing. Hopefully her actions would yield results before she herself went unconscious.

[Ecks]

The Jedi grabbed his windpipe and began to squeeze, and within a few moments black spots danced in front of his eyes. The bounty hunter tried to breathe as normally as possible, while increasing the pressure on the female's wrist.

SNAP

The joint gave way with a loud crack, but still he didn't release, grinding the broken ends of bone together under his hand while she kept squeezing his throat and his vision was becomig blurry again and he kept up the pressure on her throat without doing any permanent damage to the female's windpipe, because after all she was no good to him dead...

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

The pain was horrid and sudden, the dark spots clouding her vision exploding into a million points of light. She cried out a curse as her body jerked beneath his.

Her hold on his neck clamped down even harder, and her back arched as her bones were ground against one another.

With a visceral growl, the Lupine released her hold on his throat, her hand going up to his face and fingers desperately curling around the edges of his eyepatch. Fingernails digging up under the edge, she began frantically pulling.

[Ecks]

She was fumbling with hs eyepatch now, trying to pull it off his head even though it was screwed into his orbital bones. Oxygen had rushed into his lungs as soon as she released his windpipe, and Ecks picked up her head by his hold on her throat, and slammed it into the ground.

Once. Twice. Anymore and he'd be risking brain damage to the female. Although she'd still be alive, so technically... s'Ilancy's head bounced off the hard ground again.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Pain fired through her nerves once again, only this time it was her head that was receiving such harsh treatment. The broken wrist was forgotten momentarily as her head struck the hard marble floor for the third time, and her grip on his eyepatch loosened.

As her head hit a fourth time, the Lupine felt her body lose the battle for consciousness. Hand sliding from his face, she felt the contours of his craggy face beneath her fingertips before they hit the ground, unmoving.

And her last thoughts, as her eyes rolled into the back of her head, were of her daughter and Sanis.

[Ecks]

Finally. The Falleen rolled off of the slight female and lay beside her on the ground, breathing heavily. His head was pounding, but he had no idea how long she would remain unconscious, so he got to his knees and pulled a pair of stun cuffs from their niche in his armor.

Shoving the Jedi from her back to her stomach, he pulled her hands behind her and secured the cuffs tightly. The one wrist was swelling up, and the cuffs dug in slightly to the bruised flesh. Then the bounty hunter pulled off her boots, stuncuffed her ankles, and slung the female over his shoulder. Now all he had to do was find a way out of this underground hellhole.

Ecks worked his way resolutely towards the door of the chamber.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Losstarot, your will has become weak; your flesh broken.

...

Rouse yourself, Apex.

...

Have you lost your ability to listen and obey as well? Has your blood become so diluted as to render you useless?

I've taken on the madness...

Nonsense. Insanity has not been in your blood for centuries.

Then if you aren't a part of my mind, who are you.

A leftover presence, nothing more. It seems your sensitivity to the Force has allowed a link between us.

Unlikely. I think it more appropriate that I have lost a small bit of sanity.

Very well, if that is what you wish to believe. But the fact remains that you have allowed yourself to become a captive party.

Out of my control. I resisted to the best of my ability.

No, you let desire cloud your thoughts.

Also out of my control.

Your ancestors would be shamed of your performance.

No more than by their own extinction. At least I have born another; begun a new generation.

...

I discovered the reason behind their infertility, not they.

... how interesting.

[Ecks]

The place was like a maze. Ecks hefted his slim captive, heavy for her size but not heavy enough to cause him any problems, and paused at a crossroads. The lights came on as he approached, and behind him they faded. Of course, there wasn't anything quite as helpful as a sign in Basic or even Outer Rim Common pointing the way towards the exits.

He'd dismissed the way he'd entered as an exit point, but it was probably his best bet. Little Miss Firebrand was sleeping, and not likely to be helpful even if she woke up. Actually, if she was a Jedi, he'd need to hurry before she did wake up.

Backtracking quickly towards the huge room he'd fallen into in the beginning, Ecks looked around as the lights began to glow and illuminate the chamber. It was smaller than it had seemed in the dark, but just as filled with enormous statuary as he remembered. A central statue was splashed with luminescent green blood from where he'd struck it on his way down.

Craning his neck to look up, Ecks gauged the distance to the trapdoor. Even if he could climb the statue with his prize on his back, he'd still be a good three and a half meters away from reaching the ceiling. Shifting s'Ilancy's dead weight, he looked around the room again. A grin split his ugly face as his eye traced the outline of what seemed to be a turbolift along the far wall, behind the central statue.

For whatever reason everything powered up in the presence of his captive, and the bounty hunter wasn't about to waste the opportunities that brought him. He crossed the chamber, and feeling a little ridiculous, pushed the call button for the 'lift. The doors opened after a moment, but something caught his attention in the corner of his eye. Bending slightly, Ecks picked up the trinket, turned it over in his big hand, and slipped it into a pocket.

The trip back to the surface of Hoth took only a few moments, but dark was falling.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

It seems we are going to the surface.

... we?

Yes 'we'. I am going with you.

I knew it; I'm losing my mind.

Oh enough of that nonsense, Losstarot. You are perfectly sane and healthy - if not a bit roughed up.

If I'm not going insane, than who are you.

Klavius.

Of House... ?

Su'beate.

I still say that I've gone mad.

And I can assure you that you are not. You are however, rather knocked up a fair bit. Your friend was certainly not very gentle.

He's not my friend.

I should hope not. Not only has he embarrassed and subdued an Apex Lupine, he has decided to steal from me as well it seems.

[Ecks]

Damn it was cold.

Ecks slogged through the snow in the rapidly darkening landscape, towards the niche where he had left his speeder. Where hopefully it still was. In his warmskin he was comfortable enough, but his headache was splitting his skull, and the woman over his shoulder wasn't wearing shoes anymore. Her feet were taking on an unusual tint - unusual for a human, anyway. And after what had happened in the temple below, he didn't put too much stock in her being very human.

Temple. He wasn't sure why he'd referred to the subterranean place as a temple, but it seemed to make sense. Ah - success.

The speeder was more or less how he'd left it, though snow had drifted up against it. Ecks reached over and fired up the engine, allowing it to clear its system and warm up as it started to hover. s'Ilancy was pulled off of his shoulder and held in his arms as he climbed aboard the vehicle, then she was placed across the speeder in front of him. The bounty hunter used a finger to clear the blown snow from his goggle, and revved the engine of the speeder.

Activating the geopositioning software, he located his ship and took off, in the direction of the setting sun.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

It was the blast of cold air rushing past her face that partially roused her, and the Lupine was thankful to at least somewhat escape the dredges of her subconscious. Her relief was crushed though, as she remembered the situation she was in. Her body involuntarily shuddered, the cold air biting exposed flesh. And then there was the matter of her wrist.

s'Il groaned, feeling as the cuffs dug into the swollen area with what seemed like a vengeance, and she shivered again. Her perch was precarious at best, and the Lupine opted against struggling in favor of doing her best to keep as close to the warmer body of her captor as possible.

[Ecks]

As the woman moaned and shifted in front of him, Ecks put one heavy hand on her back, holding her in place. She was as secure on the bike as if she were in her mother's arms. Of course, her mother probably wouldn't try to capture her and sell her out to the Imperials, but no analogy was perfect.

Come to think of it, perhaps her shapeshifting species had a habit of eating their young. Her mother's arms could have been a very dangerous place. Ecks frowned, brushing aside his thoughts, and punched the accelerator.

After a few more minutes Razor's Edge swung into view, perched in a slight valley. The bounty hunter navigated the decline towards his ship, and stopped just behind it. Dismounting from the speeder, he unlocked and opened the tiny hold, revealing the large cage that he'd spent his last bounty on. All two hundred thousand credits of it.

It was said to be able to hold Force Users, but who would know with none around to test it on? It was called a Universal Energy Cage, and Ecks had the sneaking suspicion that he'd been hosed on the price. He clicked it open, went back and pulled s'Ilancy off of the speeder - her feet and hands were properly purple, and he was slightly concerned that if parts of her fell off due to frostbite that he wouldn't get full price.

He placed her in the middle of the cage, removed the stun cuffs and closed the door. Locking it activated the repulsor field that would suspend her in the air inside of the cage, and energized the energy feedback systems that were purported to 'reflect' a Jedi's power back at the Jedi inside the cage. The bars contained an automated stun system that would shock anyone who touched it, not just the captive.

Not wanting to waste anymore time on Hoth than he needed to, Ecks pulled the speeder inside the hold and closed the door from the outside. The hold was climate controlled, but he'd dialed down the heat considerably from the rest of the ship - as a cold-blooded being he liked it warm and humid in his living quarters. s'Ilancy needed to be warmed up slowly.

Trudging around the ship in the snow towards the front hatch, Ecks wondered if the cage would work. The sooner he got into space the better - there was no where for her to go then, even if she did get herself out of the cage. And when he opened that cargo door again she would be walking out into Imperial custody.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

My, now we've got ourselves into quite a pickle, haven't we.

She ignored the voice in the back of her mind, feeling as her body began to mend itself. The process itself didn't hurt; it was the pain of the injury that made her pull a strained face. The throbbing of her wrist seemed all that she could feel, and in those wretched first few minutes the Lupine didn't even realize that she was not lying upon any sort of surface. Her hands and feet were numb, and gingerly she tried to at least twitch a finger.

Nothing.

I'd like to think that you have a reason for letting yourself fall into such circumstances.

"Be quiet."

s'Il let a defeated sigh escape her lips, resigning herself to the moment. Suspended in the cage, she curled into a ball and decided it best to simply let her body heal itself. The cold was almost unbearable, but her skin was steadily becoming hot to the touch as her metabolism went to work.

Thoughts of the hunter filled her mind, and in her mind's eye before she drifted once more into the blackness of her subconscious, the Lupine could see his scarred face grinning evilly.

[Ecks]

(the story continues here)
(http://www.sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?t=16114)