The Ardent Ravens: Killers for Hire

[RulithBarakis]

Hello all; I have decided to give Fan Fic writing another shot despite my failures in the past in managing to stick with a story to the end. I'm hoping to remedy my failures now, though, so please bare with me if it takes me a while to make posts. Thank you, and hope you enjoy!

 

 

The Ardent Ravens

 

Killers for Hire

 

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Prologue

 

 

It took a moment for the man to regain his senses. Groaning, his eyes fluttered open as he forced himself to return to consciousness. His head was pounding, every returning sensation sending a lance of pain through his mind. He tried to bring his hands around to rub his neck, which had become stiff after however much time had passed since he'd slipped into darkness, but he found them shackled to one another behind his back, as well as the back of the metallic chair he found himself seated in.

 

His entire body was aching, some areas dully and others with a definitive sharpness.

 

"Welcome back to the world of the living, Mr. Adrikael," someone chuckled. Using all of the strength he'd managed to gather in the few moments since reawakening, Adrikael Marovan, head adviser for Obbush the Hutt, an extremely wealthy and influential crime lord even for one of his kind, forced himself to look up, to see who had spoken. He found himself looking at the back of a fairly tall man.

 

The man wore a large hat upon his head, pulled down rather low, Adrikael realized as he turned around, to conceal most of his facial features.

 

Dull brown eyes, pale skin and a short, scruffy beard were revealed as the man stepped forward into the light. He wore a large trench-coat which fell to about three inches off the ground, dark brown in coloring, over a simple, stained white shirt that was covered in dirt and various other stains.

 

Thin plates of metal were strapped to his right shoulder, his abdomen, his chest, and a few other random places, and he wore dark black pants tucked into brown leather boots with metal also built into the toes and heels of his boots. The hilt of a katana extended from his trenchcoat, sheathed upon his left hip, but Adrikael had a feeling that it wasn't the man's only weapon.

 

"Who are you?" Adrikael rasped, barely able to get the words out. He couldn't remember what had happened and he certainly didn't know where he was. He'd been out with some friends he hadn't seen in a while for a drink during some time off on the fringe of Hutt Space, on a small back-water world known as Paraush II.

 

He had had a bit too much to drink, he knew, and had stumbled out into the street. Then something had grabbed him, and before he realized what was happening he was here, waking up in a dark, dimly lit room, with only a single light bright enough to really do any good, a light which hung suspended over Adrikael himself.

 

A thin, fake smile spread across the man's face as he began to move towards Adrikael, twirling something in his gloved hand.

 

"You don't need to know who I am. All you need to know is that you have some... information... that my employer wants," replied the man, and Adrikael's eyes widened. What was going on? The man's words had only served to further confuse the adviser.

 

"So, you're a Bounty Hunter?" Adrikael scoffed, finally managing to put something together. His face twisted into a mocking grin. "Do you have any idea who it is I serve, filth? I serve Obbush the Hutt! One of the most powerful Hutts alive!"

 

In response, the man laughed.

 

"I'm aware of who your little master is, Adrik- may I call you Adrik?- and I have to say, I don't really care," the man finally replied, after catching his breath. Adrikael gaped.

 

"Good, good, I like that expression. But, I'm afraid there's no more time to waste. I do have a job to complete, after all, and I'm not a very patient individual myself," the man continued, finally bringing the object he was holding up for Adrikael to see it. It was a knife with serrated-edges, freshly cleaned.

 

"Tell me, Adrik, where has your boss hidden Dakum Lindray?" the man asked, coming forward to whisper the name into Adrikael's ear. The adviser blanched, and the man stepped back for a moment, no longer smiling. Working up a bit of courage, Adrikael managed to respond.

 

"You cannot make me talk," said the adviser, actually managing to keep his voice from wavering as he talked. The man shook his head and let out a sigh.

 

"You know, I prefer fighting. I don't like negotiating, torturing, or anything of the sort. But... I have to admit, sometimes the finer points do make a difference. And apparently I'm pretty good at getting information out of people when I try," the man said, kneeling down in front Adrikael. When the adviser tried to kick out at him he discovered that his feet, too, were shackled together, and so he was unable to move his legs.

 

"I'm giving you a chance here, Adrik. I don't have to make this any harder for you. If you just tell me what I want to know, there's no need for this to get any nastier than it already is," continued the man, rolling his shoulders as he did so. The adviser simply glared in defiance. The man simply let out a grunt of annoyance. He didn't understand why the adviser was so loyal to the Hutt, but whatever the reason, he'd just made everything so much worse for himself.

 

"Very well then. Since you have refused to give me what I want, I'll just have to force you to talk now," he hissed, suddenly slamming his knife down into the top of Adrikael's knee, sliding it down behind the knee cap to strike bone.

 

That's when the screams began.

 

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Not bothering to clean his gloves, the man walked from the room, the door closing itself behind him on the way out.

 

"You have fun, Urxes?" someone laughed, and the Bounty Hunter simply let out an annoyed sigh as one of his 'coworkers' came up to walk alongside him. The other three stopped what they were doing and turned to see him as well.

 

"I always do, Terall. Although I can't say it's quite as amusing as toying with someone in a real fight. At least then I actually get to try. This is always too simple," Urxes replied, rubbing his neck as he did so. "But I got what we needed, and that's all that matters."

 

Terall, a young Iridonian who had recently taken up the life of a Bounty Hunter but had shown great natural ability on only his first job, was one person in a group of five assigned to this job. Urxes, of course, was leading in this, although he didn't exactly enjoy having to deal with someone who'd only recently started killing. Still, it was always good to scope out the competition... and deal with potential threats before they could become dangerous.

 

The other Bounty Hunters included a Barabel named Azzkan whose love of killing and hunting matched even Urxes' own, a Lethan Twi'Lek named Ey'Lem Ulinith who was one of the greatest snipers in the galaxy, and then a person who Urxes loathed and hated with everything he had; a Nautolan known as Relvan Kirth.

 

The Nautolan in question simply glared at Urxes from his position on the far side of the room, leaning up against the wall. Huge muscles rippled across every inch of his body, seeming to add to his height of six feet and five inches. Half of his head-tails were either heavily damaged or missing, and a red-lensed cybernetic eye shown brightly from where his left eye used to be. But that wasn't the most terrifying part of Relvan.

 

No, the Nautolan's most terrifying feature was the cybernetic arm that replaced what was once his right arm, all the way up to the shoulder. It enhanced his strength to impossible heights; the true potential of that arm had never truly been tested, and that simply added to the danger.

 

Urxes and Relvan had... a history, of the worst possible kind. Long ago, they'd done a job together with a couple other friends of theirs'. Everything had gone terribly wrong, though, and, needless to say, the two of them now hated eachother.

 

Last they'd seen of one another they'd just completed a job to capture a young Jedi Knight who'd turned out to be way too much trouble to be worth it, only for him to escape later on, Urxes had discovered. That little detail still irked him to this day, but he supposed that it no longer mattered. The credits he'd gotten from that job had lasted him for a month, the longest he'd ever gone on one payment.

 

Urxes couldn't help a small chuckle at that thought before turning back to the matter at hand.

 

"We should get moving. Won't be long before his friends come looking for him, and we want our identities to stay hidden for the moment. Though, I do hate missing a chance to kill." Everyone but Relvan chuckled at that, and then the group gathered their things and prepared to move out.

 

"What about the body?" asked Ey'Lem, and Urxes simply glanced at him.

 

"Leave it for his friends to find. It's not like it matters," Urxes sighed, before heading towards the warehouse's exit.

 

Urxes and Relvan shared one last death glare before heading out. The fact that they were forced to work together changed nothing; the only reason Urxes hadn't killed Relvan yet was because he had no idea just how strong that cybernetic arm of his truly was. No matter how much he hated the Nautolan, he was still an extremely formidable opponent.

 

One day, though, their differences would be settled... one way or another.

Edited September 18, 2012 by RulithBarakis