Outpost Odin

--- Part 4 ---

by

FM/COL TK-7764/Chaos 3-2/Wing XIX/SSD Avenger

TYR/KAP TK-7764/Prophecy/Qel-Droma/Arcona

 

            Maybe he had had too much to drink the night before thought TK.  Had he had eight ales or nine?  It did not really matter since alcohol barely had any effect on his body anymore.  He would always instinctively use the Force to clear his bloodstream out anyway.  Even so, TK actually did sleep for once.  Caldee had done something right.  The bed may not have looked like much, but it certainly was comfortable.  TK-7764 could have stayed in it for many hours.  The envoy was not arriving until past dinnertime today, so he did not need to hurry.  As he was in that half state between dreaming and reality, TK mind became urgent, encouraging him to wake up immediately.  TK could not figure out what was going on, but then he felt a terrible burning sensation in his right leg.  Twitching uncontrollably, TK woke up.  His eyes opened wide and he quickly brought his head up only to have it knocked down again.

 

“Pathetic,” said a mechanical sounding voice.  At first TK thought it might be a droid.   His eyes were still a little blurry so he could not be certain.  Then TK remembered to try seeing with a different set of eyes.  He could sense the man that stood over his bed.  His voice was distorted by a faceplate or helmet of some kind.  He could not however hear his mind or understand his intentions.  He was not someone who could easily be manipulated.  Even though he was distant, his mind still seemed somehow familiar.  Then it hit him like a bag of bricks.

 

“Didn’t you win enough money last night?” asked TK with a smile.

 

“Ahh, good.  You aren’t an idiot then,” said the hooded man as he stood over TK.  “Well, maybe you still are, but you are aware of your surroundings at least.”  TK’s eyes began to come back into focus.  He noticed a large gash on his right leg, inflicted by this guy to wake him up.  He immediately noticed though that the man was no longer wearing the robe that had covered his entire body.  Instead, he was in a suit of Mandalorian armor.  It was a black suit with yellow trim.  Unlike most suits of Mandalorian armor though, this one looked complete, like it was made in one piece.  Unlike the hodgepodge suits of men like Boba Fett, this suit looked like a stormtroopers suit, in the sense that it appeared new and well maintained.  He had two blasters at his hip, what looked like a flamethrower built into his arm, a nasty switchblade like knife that was built into his other wrist, and a large vibrosword strapped to his back.  The knife was dripping in blood and was apparently what he had used to give TK his wake up call.

 

“Well I’ll be,” said TK with a grin.  “I actually am worth something to somebody, dead at least.”  The bounty hunter just looked back at him with the blank stare of his helmet.

 

“No, I’m quite certain you are worthless.  Otherwise they would want you alive for interrogation.  Instead they gave very specific instructions.”

 

“Now as any good bad guy in any bad movie would do, you should tell me who “they” are,” said TK, trying to use the Force to push the bounty hunter into compliance.

 

“Haha, you really think that will work?  Or that your Force trick will affect me?  Let me tell you though that it does not matter because you are already dead.  And not like in those bad movies.  You really are already dead,” said the bounty hunter.  He slowly began to wipe off his knife with a small rag.  “You see this knife injected enough poison into your bloodstream to kill a Kyrat Dragon.  So I really don’t think you have any chance to report this to your superiors.”  It was then that TK realized that he was having difficulty moving or even feeling anything below his waist.  The feeling was spreading very rapidly and he had better start concentrating on eliminating that poison and on breathing.

 

“So you were hired by?”

 

“The Khargans of course.  Some people get rather upset when you kill their apprentices.  My ship was able to hide fairly well from the Avenger’s scanners.  When I saw your distinctive ship leave I made sure to follow.  Of course I had to make sure it really was you flying it.  So thus I had to wait until I saw you face to face last night rather then blowing you out of the sky when you got here.  So TK, is their anything else you would like to know?”  Something about this bounty hunter’s cocky attitude and his armor perfectly clean and stocked with weapons seemed familiar to TK.  It came to him quite easily though when the mercenary said that.

 

“So, the I-ock was your ship eh?”

 

“Hehe, you are clever,” said the bounty hunter as TK began to lose feeling in his arms.

 

“What a hunk of junk,” said TK weakly.  “You are the kind of guy who would add spinners to a compact car aren’t you?  It’s hilarious.”  That got the reaction TK was hoping for.  If this guy was anything like TK, people are always proud of their ship.

 

“Don’t test me fool,” said the bounty hunter.  TK had gotten the last word in though, and so he was content.  And slowly TK’s eyes closed, failing back into the darkness.

 

 

… to be continued