STAR WARS/PREDATOR:MASTER XOL'S SAGA (PART SEVENTEEN)

Pursued by assassins at every turn, trapped by the CEO of the Dark Star syndicate, Irondo Persk. Xol and his crew have now been taken prisoner by the notorious bounty hunter, Boba Fett.

 

In an attempt to save her master the young Nautolan apprentice Qiin was killed. The darkness of that moment, with all it's pain and sadness chisels onto the soul of the Yautja. Though he swore against a steadfast pursuit of the Dark Side, he cannot erase the hurt he has felt and now feels, and the temptation towards more savage things becomes ever more great.

His mind swims in the unconsciousness brought on by Boba Fett's darts. This dreamlike state has always been a dangerous one for Xol, for in this place, all manner of things tend to creep in...

Thoughts flood into Xol's mind, flashes mostly, of everyone he's ever lost. The string of faces end with the vision of Qiin falling into a pool of glowing green blood just like the Yautja's very own. With this abrupt ending shocking his senses, he awakes though he cannot open his eyes or move his body. The sensation is terrifying, a darkness that is inescapable and invasive of the mind, causing panic to rise up in his throat.

“Am I dead?” Xol asks with his mind's voice. “Is this the void?”

“No sadly, but trapped you are.” an elder voice replies.

“Master Yoda? It cannot be you. I am unworthy of your advice anymore.”

“Mine to make, that decision is,” Yoda quickly responds. “In times of need, come to those in need, the Living Force does.”

“I am not in need, I am being punished. Punished for things that I have done in pursuit of my ideals.”

“Yes, punished you are, but only by yourself. Frozen in carbonite, you truly are. Held against your will, your body is.”

“I have been stored in carbonite before master, and this is not the same.”

“Truth in your words there is, yes. Awake you must be, in order to escape, so come I have to open your mind. Help you I will, to escape this place and continue along your path.”

“I've never heard of anyone awake during carbonite freezing, how do I escape?”
“Focus on the control panel you must, speak to the machine through the Force you can. Only then, will you be set free.”

“But my old master, what if setting me free means the loss of more lives?”

“Heavy your heart weighs on the past. Guided by the Dark Side your actions sometimes may be, but Sith you are not. Corrupted by evil, a Sith heart is. Yours is one of hope, spurned by anger it can be. Let go of the anger you must learn and hope you must grasp. A heart of a Jedi, you will always have. Knew this you did, when first we met. Knew you would fall away I did, but never fall entirely you will.”

“Your confidence in me master has never ceased to baffle me.”

“Think as I do you would, if weighed by sadness your soul was not Xol...”

The faint echoing of the old Jedi's last word evokes a feeling of guilt in the Yautja, as he tries to focus his mind on the control panel attached to the frozen carbonite slab that encases his body. Toggles flip and buttons push as the Yautja deciphers the panel's inner working but the strain of such a task is incredibly difficult. He wishes he had the strength to merely phase through the solidified cocoon around him and walk free, but he lacks the power. Like sinking into a deep sleep, Xol concentrates on the apparatus that will reverse the freezing process and focuses all of his effort onto it. With his mind void of all other thought, the carbonite terminal responds quite readily and activates the thawing program. Like a bath of warm water, heat surrounds his body and he can feel his flesh beginning to fill with life once more and allow for movement. Still weak from the freeze, the Yautja spills out onto the floor into a heap, his armour making a loud clang against the bulkhead beneath him. He gasps for air as his helmet's respirator has yet to kick in and his lungs has been in disuse for so long. The hibernation sickness he feels this time is far less severe than when Blades had him held prisoner, which can only mean the duration has been far less as well. With air filling his lungs again, the Yautja flips open his wrist gauntlet control pad and turns on his armour's systems. It also appears that the Boba Fett has not disarmed him, which the veteran hunter finds to be very peculiar.

Flicking over to his heat vision, Xol can see the room around him is quite cramped and seem to have been loaded with only the slabs of him and his friends. Assessing the control panels on the other slabs, he sees their configuration is identical to his own and it should be somewhat easy to free them all within minutes. As he begins the process for Dex, he can hear the faint sound of footfalls before his hearing is overwhelmed by the sound of the carbonite thawing behind him. Concerned, he flips over his gauntlet again and adjusts his helmet's systems to filter out the sound of the slabs electronics and home in on the footsteps.

“A neat trick,” the angering voice of Boba Fett says from behind. “but too little, too late alien. I knew not to trust those Dark Star idiots with the freezing process.”

Xol whirls around drawing his lightsabers, slashing at the spot where the bounty hunters voice emanated from. To his shock he hits nothing but air, and can see no heat signature on his HUD. He knows the artificial sound of a recording or speaker and has determined that neither is being used. He circles round ensuring that the cunning Mandalorian does not have the opportunity to flank him.

“Your file with the Empire said that you could pass through solid objects,” Fett begins to taunt. “So why did you not free yourself back at the station before I had the chance to shoot your friend? Or, did you not care about that Nautolan, Xol? I certainly didn't. She should have stayed underwater where she belongs.”

Xol knows that Boba Fett is taunting him and though he feels his mind is guarded from such words, they pierce through anyway, enflaming his hatred for the Mandalorian even more.

“Only scavengers chitter from the shadows when true predators make the kill.”

Before Xol can sense his presence his helmet is shunted hard to the left by a strike across the face from the stock of a blaster. The Yautja lashes out wildly attempting to counter the phantom attack to no avail. He is struck again, this time from the right side and again in the leg where his armour is weakest and his prior injury still unhealed. With a roar of pain, he collapses on one knee barely able to stand up. He is almost certain that the last bludgeon broke his leg.

“Such weakness in an opponent is not something I would expect from someone like yourself,” Fett says with a laugh. “You'd think with such a large reward out for you that you'd at least be a challenge. I've killed Gundark pups more ferocious than you.”

Xol unable to pivot quickly or gain a standing position, cycles through his vision modes until he can see the Mandalorian. When he does, he finds that Boba Fett has employed some sort of dynamic cooling system to obscure himself from Xol's sight. With this new vision mode employed, the Yautja throws both of his lightsabers at the bounty hunter, and despite the Mandalorian's quick reflexes, Xol still manages to slice his blaster in two.

“I thought you might have had a couple more ways of seeing me alien. I'm just sorry it cost me a blaster to find out that I was right. No matter though. I have more.”

Casting his sundered weapon aside, Boba Fett raises his forearm and fires a plume of ignited plasma at the Yautja. Though Xol's armour can resist the heat, his clothing and exposed areas catch fire and he begins to burn.

The pain is excruciating and every effort he makes to use the Force is thwarted by the pain coarsing through his body. As the unspeakable heat of the flames swirl around him, Xol's mind reaches a state of clarity. He ignores the pain, and focuses on the world around him. With a strong outward push of energy, he snuffs out the flames surrounding him and stands upright. In truth he is lifting himself from the floor with the Force but he knows the gesture will disturb the bounty hunter. His seared flesh aches with every breath but he moves himself forward toward his attacker.

In response, Boba Fett launches four darts from his wrist launchers and a net in rapid succession. This barrage is swatted away with ease by the approaching Yautja and the net is split by lightsabers as it crosses his path. Distraught, the bounty hunter reaches for his holdout blaster in his boot and fires three rapid shots at Xol. These blasts are deflected by lightsaber blades ricocheting them back at the Mandalorian. He ducks to evade the bolts and is narrowly missed.

Boba Fett stands up again and continues to fire his weapon at Xol desperately trying to land a shot when a black armoured fist connects with his helmet on his right side.

“Hey little brother long time no see,” Dex exclaims between laboured breaths. “How's dad?”

“Shut up clone! You and your impure brethren are not my equal. I must admit though, I am surprised to see something like you alive so far past it's prime.”

“I'm like Corellian ale, baby Boba, I just get better with age!”

Outraged by Dex's quip, the bounty hunter ignores Xol entirely and draws his survival knife with the blade facing downward. Dex responds by drawing his wrist knife and the two enter a melee.Though the pair know that the knives won't penetrate armour, they punch and kick and attempt to drive the blades into the weak points of one another. Boba Fett and Dex's techniques are nearly identical as neither can seem to land a wounding or killing blow.

Exhausted and with Xol drawing near, Boba Fett unexpectedly fires his grapple into the ceiling. The magnetic hook clamps securely before reeling in the bounty hunter pulling him only a couple feet off the ground.

“You know I can still get at you right little brother?” Dex jokes as he positions himself for a jump into the air.

“Yes joke defective clone,” Boba Fett replies. “Ask yourself one question. Can you fly?”

With the push of a button on his wrist, the bounty hunter releases clamps that hold the doors that serve as the floor of the loading area in place. With a quick whoosh, the metal bulkhead retracts and makes way into vast open sky, raining the contents of the room, including Dex and Xol out into the air. The slabs of their friends still frozen in carbonite rush by the duo as the hurtle out of the cargo ship they were being held in and plummet toward, the jungle terrain below. Xol attempts to grab the cargo ship with the Force but he is still weak from the strain of combat. Looking to his right he can see Dex struggling to steady himself as he falls.

Xol attempts to quiet his mind and let the Force be his guide. Again, just like when he was facing Boba Fett, he sees the solution clearly and with all his might begins to simultaneously push against the downward force and pull his friends toward him, levitating them somewhat as he slows their descent.

Noticing the change in speed right away, Dex begins to hysterically laugh with joy, “Thank the cloners,” he shouts. “I love being friends with a Jedi!”

As Xol's focus becomes more and more concentrated, the once panicked and terrifying fall has slowed to near stopping, as if the group were riding an invisible lift down to the planet's surface. Within just a few short minutes, the crew have all landed onto the dense forest floor of the planet below. Xol exhaustedly lies on the ground heaving heavy breaths, while Dex goes around to the still frozen slabs and begins the thawing process for all of them.

“That was unbelievable big guy,” Dex says as he kneels next to a control panel. “What is the plan now?”

“We will seek out what is left of the Jedi Order and the Rebellion,” Xol gasps. “Against the Empire we had a chance of success but now, all the dark forces of the galaxy will oppose us. No longer can we hunt alone, we must gather our tribe and flush out the Emperor once and for all.”

“Good plan. I like it but, one question big guy? Where's Typ?”

TO BE CONTINUED...