VAMPIRE'S SHADOW
Taris Undercity
Taris Undercity
It was the Undercity of Taris. A dark, dangerous place. A wretched hive of scum and villainy. Gangs of thugs always blasting each other to pieces with their deadly blasters and slugthrowers. Always lusting for blood. Always looking for a fight.
It was a very dark and cold night. If it wasn't for the streetlights, the Old Man would not see a thing. He was riding a speeder bike and the lights flashed by as he raced on, constantly reaching out in the Force so he would sense any potential danger right on time.
Yes, the man was tired of the long journey, and I am not just speaking of the one from Thyferra to Taris. I am speaking of the grand adventure which took him all across the galaxy. He had learned so much in his long life, he had learned how to find perfect balance in the Force. To understand both sides of it. The light and the dark. He was a Shade Master, a Grandmaster...
Whatever that meant.
Well, I'll tell you what it means. It means that the Old Man, once a youthful Knight roaming the galaxy to protect those in need of protection, was a champion. He still is and he will always be a champion. He was tired, yes, but that was justified by the fact that he was old. But this chapter here, will prove that the Grandmaster would always go on, even when he was tired, even now that he is old.
This Old Man, wearing his trademark mercenary outfit, was Quentell Xall. A seeker of justice, truth and a man who walked the Shaded Path.
He was tired indeed, but the Force kept him going. The Force was with him and it was always with him.
And there he was, on the world of Taris, speeding through the dark night into the Undercity. A small holographic screen lit his pale face. His piercing blue eyes shimmered in the faint glow. The screen displayed the coordinates of the location from which the message was sent.
A distress signal. A cry for help.
And Quentell Xall had recognized the message. It was from an old friend of his. One he had worked with quite a few times. They had traveled to worlds together to explore those worlds. They had studied Force Crystals and although his old friend was not a Force User, he did know a lot about the Force. The man was called Thomas.
And when Thomas sent the distress call to Quentell, the Shade Grandmaster did not waste a minute and immediately took off to save his friend.
So he ended up in the Undercity of Taris. The hive of scum and villainy. Quentell loved it...
***
Quentell stopped his speeder bike in a small back alley. Up ahead lied the wreck of a speeder and Quentell figured it had been lying there for quite some time. The wreck was rusty and looked ancient. He was not surprised to see a wreck here, because the Undercity was a crowded place, with buildings close to each other. One had to be careful not to hit something.
He shut down the engine of his speeder and stepped off the vehicle. He ran a hand through his long, grey hair. His light blue eyes shimmered in the dim light and his beard waved up and down on the soft wind.
This was the spot. This was the location from which Thomas had sent the distress signal.
Quentell reached out in the Force, but did not immediately sense anything. He reached for the blaster pistol inside the holster on his right hip and took a few steps towards the old wreck.
"Thom!?" he called out in his strong voice. "Thom, are you there!?"
There was no reply.
Feeling uncomfortable he drew his pistol and moved past the wreck, deeper into the alley.
It was a dead end.
Quentell frowned and wondered if this was right. Did he make a mistake? Maybe this wasn't the right location at all? But the device on his bike led him here...
For a moment the Old Man was confused. He turned and laid eyes on the wreck once again, but it was not the wreck that made this whole situation so suspicious. It was the tense atmosphere and the empty alley. It was as if something ugly was about to happen.
He turned around again and looked into the alley. When he looked to his left he finally saw it. It was a metal door inside the left wall which apparantly led into a building.
He was about to approach the door and open it when he suddenly heard a sound.
He turned around again in a flash and aimed his pistol at one of the men who walked into the alley. They carried guns of their own, and some wielded swords. There were about twenty of them and they looked rather dangerous.
"Where did you take him!?" Quentell shouted.
The guy Quen aimed his gun at burst out into laughter. Soon his mates followed.
"He is dead, old man. He is DEAD!"
The thugs spread out and two other thugs appeared, dragging the dead body of Thomas along. They dropped it. It smacked face down onto the ground and a crack could be heard once the head hit the floor.
It filled Quentell with rage. But that was the thing with Shade Masters, the rage that boiled up inside them was under their control. They could let it subside in a matter of seconds and they could summon it when they needed it.
"Oh, and I almost forgot," the thug went on, "Alexander sends his regards."
"Who the hell is Alexander!?" Quentell demanded. "Why did you kill an innocent man!?"
"Alex is the boss. He hired us..." the thug said with a grin. "And now you're gonna die, old man!"
Blasterbolts cut through thin air as they errupted from Quentell's gun. The thug who had spoken was the first to die. The bolt from Quen's gun slammed into the guy's mouth. A rain of blood exploded from the wound as the guy was launched backwards. He fell onto his backside a few meters down the alley. The other thugs immediately returned fire.
This was when Quentell dropped his gun to the ground and pulled out both his lightsabers. A silver blade and a blue blade ignited from the hilts and the Grandmaster used them to deflect the bolts.
One of the bolts slammed into a thug's belly, wounding the man severely. Another bolt cut down a thug when it hit his head and a couple of arms and legs were blown off when bolts seared right through the limbs.
Then Quentell tapped into the Force and sped forwards, straight at the group of thugs. The Old Man was outnumbered, but that did not mean he was less powerful than all of the thugs together. Oh, he was so much more powerful than these weak, little pathetic boys.
A blue blade sliced straight through the abdomen of a thug, his body cut into two, showering the Old Man with blood. Quentell did not care, because he was filled with rage. He would avenge his old friend.
His silver blade cut through the neck of another man, his head falling of his shoulders and landing onto the ground with a thud.
Three thugs rushed at Quentell with swords drawn, but the Shade simply lunged out his right hand, while still holding his beautiful, blue bladed saber, and unleashed a powerful Force Blast. The thugs were thrown back into the wall behind them and the cracking of bones could be heard. To finish them, Quentell summoned even more anger and unleashed a wave of blue lightning. He fried the thugs and killed them off in cold blood.
He turned and was right on time to block off a vibroblade with his silver lightsaber. He thrusted the blue one forwards, straight through the man's belly. The tip of the blue blade came out of the man's back. The man coughed, groaned and died.
Quentell pulled out his blue blade and faced the remaining thugs. He saw that the anger and satisfaction which had burned in their eyes had turned into fear.
The Old Man approached the remaining thugs very slowly, with a grim look on his face. The thugs backed away and fired off more laser bolts, but Quentell easily deflected them. The bolts crashed into the ground and the walls instead.
"This is what you get for killing him..." he said. The anger burned in his piercing blue eyes. The determination to kill these thugs and to avenge his old friend.
"...But..." one of the thugs began, "it wasn't us! Alex killed him! Alex! Alex is the killer! He... he killed him! Please!"
But Quentell would have none of it. He threw his blue saber at the group of thugs. The glowing blade circled in the air and cut the thugs down one by one. Then the blade returned to Quen's hand, like a boomerang, and Quentell deactived his sabers.
"Oh, Thomas..." he whispered and he approached the dead body of his old friend. He knelt beside it and took it in his arms. Normally Quen would control his emotions, but this time he did not care. He let the tears flow...
***
The Grandmaster stood tall. He had lied the body of Thomas back onto the ground. The body was bruised and bloody, but it looked like he had been killed only a few hours ago.
Quentell closed his bright blue eyes and spread out his arms, like an eagle spread its wet wings to dry them in the hot sun. He stood tall like a statue and reached out in the Force. He was able to sense everything now. Every Force Sensitive being in the nearby area... But at the moment there was only one in the area.
A dark, but powerful entity and he instantly realized that this was the one responsible for Thomas' death.
Quentell glanced over to the door in the alley and approached it...
He slipped inside and stepped into the darkness.
He could not see a thing, but that was no problem for the Grandmaster. He called upon the Force once again and used the ability many referred to as Force Sight. His eyes glowed with a slight silver hue and everything became clear. It was as if someone had switched on the lights.
Quentell clenched the hilts of his lightsabers, but did not activate them. He did not want to alarm the Force User inside this building. Of course he was not so naive as to think the Force User was unaware of Quentell's presence, but he still did not want to active his sabers yet.
If it was a trap, Quentell would notice it on time and then he would break the one who dared to hurt his friends.
He walked down a corridor and slipped through a second door. He ended up in a staircase. He sensed the Force User was upstairs, at the top of the building, and Quentell began to climb the stairs.
It was a four story building and soon Quentell had reached the fourth story. He opened a door and stepped into a big room. The room was empty, or so it seemed, but Quentell felt the eerie atmosphere and he could sense that the Force User was nearby.
He could sense it.
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