The snap of an nitrile glove echoed across massive ferns and ancient trees. A white-blue Kessurian hybrid stood over the body of a Trandoshan, his sculpted features drawn into a look of pure disgust, wearing a simple black button down rolled up to the elbows with dark khaki pants and black hiking boots.
He was going to have to shove his hand… in the body.
In the body.
Shoulders shuttered and then heaved as the Kessurian-Echani suppressed the urge to throw up the lunch he had inhaled thirty minutes earlier. He pressed the back of his tattooed forearm to his lips and swallowed hard. No. He had to be strong.
Severin crouched beside the body and prepared himself mentally— he had been called by a local tribe of Trandoshans to investigate mysterious deaths the locals had theorized was due to a new species added to the ecosystem.
The giant claw slightly poking out of the female’s body would lead him to agree with them.
“Oh kark oh kark ohkarkohkarkohkark.”
Gritting his teeth Sev slowly pushed the gloved fingers of his right hand into the body cavity. His fingers wrapped around the claw and he went to pull it out but stopped, his head snapping upwards and jewelry adorned pointed ears twitching.
Something wasn’t right.
Savran took another glance at their datapad. Yeah, that was him, no doubt. Their employer had paid good money to have Severin Xand captured and brought back to them in one piece. He had specified that last part to an annoying degree. Perhaps he had heard of the Tekuani’s tendency to … flexibly interpret the terms of their contracts. Wise.
“Well, better get started,” they said to himself while crouching low amongst the tall grasses. The planet’s dense vegetation provided them ample cover to stalk closer toward their target, and their familiarity with tropical environments allowed them to move silently like a serpent stalking its prey. Although Savran Has’s gear was better suited for killing their targets, their proficiency with the Force would allow them to subdue them no problem.
Once they felt they were sufficiently close, Savran sprang from the dense grass and extended their hand toward the pale-skinned man, attempting to seize him in a telekinetic grip.
He felt it. Something deep inside him felt the danger, a warning, klaxons screaming in the back of his head. Prey. Someone, or something, was hunting him. Gloved hands quickly pulled their target out of the body as the queasiness he felt faded in favor of quick action. He needed to go, needed to get back to the ship, needed to escape.
Severin shoved the claw into a sterile bag just as his montrals picked up movement from the brush. A boot covered foot snapped to kick a nearby crate at his assailant before he looked, but his quickness caused the crate to go wide. A miss. Damn.
Silver eyes settled on a Shani as the force settled around him and trapped him in place. The Kessurian-echani sighed softly, blood covered gloved hands resting loosely at his side. His calm expression lasted only a moment before a smile filled his features.
Well. If he was going to die, at least his murderer was gorgeous. If there was a better way to die, he didn’t know of it.
“Well hello there,” he beamed, “I usually ask for dinner before someone goes and manhandles me like this. But I guess I’ll let it pass.”
Savran didn’t say anything at first when the man offered up what they hoped wasn’t his best attempt at flirting. Turning their palm toward the pale magenta sky above their heads to lift him off the ground. How he could think of anything other than his own fleeting mortality was a mystery to them. Savran curled their fingers inward a hair to tighten their invisible hold on him with the Force. How much pressure could the toothsome little man take before he started to squeal like a trapped roba?
“Is that how you normally talk your way out of difficult situations?” they asked while taking a step forward, seemingly unimpressed based on the expression worn on their tattooed countenance. “If it is, you need to rework your lines.”
Their concentration was enough to keep the kessurian hybrid suspended in the air while they produced their datapad. The man’s dossier was the last thing Savi had open on the device’s display. A quick review of the information therein and the picture pinned to it confirmed that this was their target. “Severin Xand. An ecologist and environmental scientist. You must be exceptional in your fields of expertise because my employers have paid me handsomely to have you captured and brought to them. Lucky for you, they specified that they needed you alive and in one piece.”
Severin just shrugged, as much as he could with the damn vice grip the force had on him, at Savran’s response to his flirtatious comment. He had been caught. There wasn’t much else he could do right now. He had tried to disrupt the Force User’s concentration but had failed.
“There’s no use in ‘talking my way out’ of this. Hunters don’t listen to prey,” he responded, his voice betraying the nonchalant look on his face. His tone was more flat than it was previous, as if stating an obvious fact… which he was. Growing up with his tribe, he learned what predators looked like. He had learned the ease in which people with real power moved, the command they demanded. He had once been that.
No longer. Now he was just a scholar.
Savran listed off the details of the dossier on him and his smile finally faded to a more serious look. So someone finally put a hit out on him? But who? He had made a lot of enemies recently, much to Addyn’s distaste. Couldn’t feed him information if no one wanted to talk to him.
“Ah, so that’s what this is about. Unfortunately when you care more about the environment than most people, you get in the way of things.”
Sev’s head tilted as much as it could in his captured state, muscles straining against the invisible force pinning him as jewelry crusted earrings lightly chimed. The Shani was gorgeous, all fire and grace. Red, orange, green, sienna… if he survived this he was going to paint her for sure.
“What is your name, m'a niku xuo?”
Well, he was right about that, at least. Savi wasn’t one to concern themselves with the concerns of their food. But this one wasn’t food, unfortunately. And they cared more about the fat stack of credits they’d get for his delivery than satisfying their appetite. His comment about caring more about the environment caught their attention. It seemed reminiscent of a story they’d heard countless times: the overzealous environmental activist who runs afoul of some very rich, very powerful people who have a vested interest in seeing him … removed from the equation. Part of them wondered what he’d done to earn such a large bounty on his head but disregarded that thought. It wouldn’t help them complete their mission, so it was irrelevant in their eyes.
“Why do you want to know my name?” they asked, using their grip to pull him over to where they were standing so they could lock his arms behind him in a pair of stuncuffs. Then, they grabbed a handful of the back of his shirt right below his neck and lead him down the path leading back to their ship. “I don’t know what that means. Speak to me in basic. Or preferably, don’t speak at all.”
Silver eyes widened slightly as the Shani cuffed him and started roughly leading him forward. Gorgeous and to the point? He was a lucky man. His blinding smile returned where Savran couldn’t see it, a few strands of loose hair falling into his face.
“I’d like to know the name of my captor, is that so bad? I appreciate skill when I see it.” He knew it was a long shot, but with him being taller he had the advantage and needed to get free of the snake woman’s grasp before they got him to their ship. With the grace afforded by his frame he tucked his head forward and rolled. Either the Shani would go with him and be possibly incapacitated, or they’d simply let go and he’d be caught again.
He traveled with the momentum of the roll and righted himself back up at the end of it before trying to make a break for the treeline to their left. Get in the forest, get some objects between him and the force user, and get back to his ship nearby.
What was this guy’s deal? Trying to flirt his way out of the druk situation he’d found himself in? Although it technically wouldn’t make a difference if they did tell him their name, he was going to have to do a lot better than some basic schmoozing to earn that information. As the two walked along a path of Savi’s choosing, the shani felt a tremor in the Force. Then, Severin tried to roll away, and the tightness of their grip surely would have taken Savi with him if they hadn’t simply let go.
Fine.
If he wanted to make this more difficult for himself, than so be it. Instead of pursuing him, Savi reached over their shoulder to spin the strap of their Relby V-10 around. Gripping the weapon in both hands, they took aim and fired a shot into the treeline he made a break for. A single metal quarrel charged with crimson plasma exploded from the modified Relby’s barrel, zipped past Severin’s head, and punched a hole into the tree directly ahead and to his right. Savi kept the weapon’s barrel aimed in Severin’s direction while raising their voice to speak.
“The next one is going in your leg.”
His escape was successful, but only for a moment. The Kessurian-Echani hybrid stumbled and spun, his back hitting the tree that had a plasma round shot into it just heartbeats earlier. His shoulders protested against the impact– reminding him that his hands were still bound behind him. The humorous smile on his face that he held before had slipped to one of quiet resolve with a hint of sadness. He had no clue who had hired the Shani to take him and therefore he didn’t know what waited for him when he arived to the destination Savran had in mind.
He still had so much he wanted to do.
He still had so much to make up for.
Sev inhaled deeply as his mental argument with himself played on his face. He could run, but it was likely the Shani would shoot him… likely somewhere very painful. However, if he gave up and let Savran bring him to their employer, chances were he wouldn’t get out of this alive. So… talking it was.
“Tell me, hunter… are the credits worth handing over someone innocent? Is it the fame you’re after? The thrill of the hunt? I did nothing wrong… I don’t do that anymore. I’m just a researcher, trying to make the world better.” A soft frown played on his lips, his eyebrows creasing together.
“You bring me in to whoever it was that hired you, I can’t be out here doing my job. That’s all I want to do, I never wanted any trouble. I just want to protect the enviroment and keep planets healthy.”
Savran’s expression was … less than impressed with the Kessurian-Echani’s plea. “That’s it? Your attempt at appealing to my sense of morality?” she asked, a look of mordant amusement flashing across her scaly countenance. “Do you know how many people who were in your exact condition did their best to convince me that they were innocent? That they hadn’t in some way or another put themselves in the predicament they found themselves in?”
They didn’t know if the man was just overconfident or if he thought they were just that gullible. If there was one thing that caught Savi’s attention, though, it was Severin’s mention of “not doing that anymore.” That’s what they latched onto.
“Maybe if you’re honest about what that is that you used to do, I’ll actually consider your plea.”