Slave market service (CFR)
Baring his fanged teeth, Klassk let out an ominous hiss to his opponent. The yells of the onlookers grew to a larger crescendo at the challenge. The Trandoshans opponent, a Wookie who had been brought from his homeworld for this very battle let out a ferocious roar in answer to Klassk's challenge. Smiling, The reptile began to circle the huge furred creature, looking for an opening. Sprinting forward, sand flicking out of the ring into the onlookers, Klassk charged at the Wookie, hissing with fury as he did. Smashing into the furred creature, he slashed outwards with his claws, hoping to gut the creature while he was up close. Although his claws scored deep cuts into the creature, the Wookies own claws drew blood, slicing through Klassks scales.
With a shout, his master, the one who had brought him from his homeworld, tossed in a large halberd, seemingly just to see who would grab it first. And, with a smile, Klassk knew he was closest. As the Wookie leapt for it, the Trandoshan grabbed its leg, and with a screech, ripped it backwards. Leaping over it, he grasped the halberd before turning back to the Wookie. One overhead swing and it was over. Lifting his victims head high, Klassk hissed in victory, reveling the pleasure of the kill. A group of armed men, advancing with force pikes, slowly forced him back into his cage where he was forced into when he was not fighting.
Pacing up and down his cage, Klassk snarled in anger as he always did whenever in the cage. His species was a species of hunters and slavers, not prey and slaves. He was taken when he was very young. On his first hunt down to the Wookie homeworld, Klassk had been ambushed along with the other members of the hunt. Although they had fought with might, the sheer numbers of their opponents had defeated them. And since then, Klassk had been forced into pitfights just like this one. Sniffing the air, he could smell the salt from the ocean from here. Freedom was just beyond where he could not reach it...
Slave market service (CFR)
Axl Bailey, former bare knuckle pitfighter, rogue squadron pilot and now Iron Ferret had watched the entire fight.
Whilst he was one of the top fighters of the past, he never used a weapon.
This was fighting to the death and it sickened him to see slaves forced to fight.
While the crowds were preparing for the next fight Axl slipped away to the cage area.
He approached the Trandoshans cage and spoke.
" I don't know if you can understand me but that was a brutal contest. You know I use to do this but more bare knuckle, more civil, but if you understand then I can get you out, you just let me know?"
Axl could here someone coming and turned to leave.
The guard was stunned to see someone else there.
" What are yo..."
The punch was fast and precise as the guard fell backwards into unconsciousness. Axl looked back at the Trandoshan.
" Well?"
Re: Slave market service (CFR)
((OOC: Axl, this is the second time I've volunteered to do someone's intro thread and gotten ninja'd by you after posting elsewhere that I'd do it. This time I'm still posting at Klassk's request, and I'd appreciate it if in the future, you paid more attention to who else has offered to do this.))
Alema watched the fight in horror, arms wrapped around herself as the slaves were forced to kill each other for the amusement of their master. She'd come to purchase a slave, and when she heard about these gladiatorial matches, the Twi'lek had set her heart on having one of these. They didn't deserve this. No one deserved to die this way. Nothing but fear and aggression and the laughter of an audience just as willing to see a slave die as see him live.
She swallowed and shook her head. Her captivity had never been this bad. Not the formal enslavement anyway. Twi'leks were seldom exported for combat.
Alema turned away and made her way to Klassk's owner. She knew this was the worst possible time to attempt to purchase a slave, when his owner was inflated with his vicarious sense of victory and raking in the earnings from bets made and lost. She was sure there were even others looking to acquire Klassk for themselves after a performance like that. But the Crimson Ferret's Revenge had been doing well of late, and Alema had been saving up for another purchase like this for the past couple of years.
There was nothing she wanted more than to kill that slave-trading filthy excuse for a life-form. Perhaps she could, too. Alema hated using her talents and her body that way, but it would be so easy to get him complacent, get him content, get him feeling wonderful and then let him die that way.
But compromising her own honor was something Alema still couldn't bring herself to do. Money was better.
She walked away from the conversation feeling greasy. She'd paid an absurd, totally incredible amount of money to that man and she could still feel his hands on her skin. With a grimace she wiped her hands on her arms, trying to rub away the feel of him. She hadn't needed to do this last time, and she hoped it would be worth it. Even if the slave in question... Klassk? Was that his name? The sounds were harsh and foreign on Alema's tongue, but she suspected he'd feel the same way about her.
The guards led her back through to the cages where the most dangerous and unruly of combatants were kept. She was glad of the blaster rifle on her back, because otherwise the presence of so many slavers would have been too much for Alema to bear. She wasn't like some of her crew, able to approach anyone who offended her and simply kick him in the face. She needed to take precautions.
When they led her back to Klassk's cage, she found someone familiar standing over a fallen guard. Her escorts levelled their force pikes and Alema snapped sternly, "That's enough. I know this man and he's here with me."
She had to think fast. Knowing Axl he'd just started throwing punches without thinking, but Alema didn't have that luxury. Pulling her courtesan training about her like a cloak of authoritative and uncompromising femininity, she gave the guards the most appalled and imperious glance she could. "I sent my man here to take a look at the slave and make sure his master isn't giving me a raw deal, and now I see your men hassling him. Do you want his owner to profit from this deal or not?!"
The guards with Alema turned their force pikes away from Axl and pointed them toward the cage as one prepared to unlock it. "Klassk. My name is Alema. We're leaving." She scowled. "You're done here. Axl, are you quite finished?"
Re: Slave market service (CFR)
Slitted eye's watching the shape of a man approach, Klassk hissed in warning, letting the mammal know that if he intended to come here for some sort of amusment, he would be sorely dissappointed. After a particular loss that the huge reptile had endured against a pair trio of Kath hounds, the owners had come to jeer and laugh at the Trandoshan. Smiling with jagged teeth, Klassk remembered how he had laughed when they screamed as he tore one of their arms out. They were stupid enough to stick their hands through the bars of the cage. No doubt, the arm bones were here somewhere, among all the others that littered the cage. His eye's opened wider though, when the man punched down one of the guards that was on his way to feed the pit-fighter.
"You are ssstrong human..."
Not many people were capable of taking one of the guards down. It even looked like the mans knuckles had shattered the visor of the guards helmet. Turning his head to one side, he listened to the noise of more footfalls coming down the prison. From the sounds there was at least another five guards coming back down. Eye's flicking back into the normal spectrum of sight, disdaining his thermal vision, the young Trandoshan looked oddly at the women who accompanied them. A blue twi'lek...what was a women, and a Twi'lek women no less doing here?
"That's enough. I know this man and he's here with me."
Looking back to Axl, Klassk smiled again. It seemed he had somehow gained the attention of somebody with a lot of credits from the fight. But no doubt they had bought him for nefarious purposes as well. Nothing on Velusia was legal, the air was probably stolen from another planet.
"Klassk. My name is Alema. We're leaving." She scowled. "You're done here. Axl, are you quite finished?"
Looking around, the Trandoshan couldn't see any guards to accompany him with her. Although the reptile rarely went into a fury around his masters, if he had decided to do so, know doubt he could have torn the Twi'lek apart. Judging by the way the other man had taken out the guard, he knew how to fight, but Klassk was a Trandoshan warrior! a Wookie hunter!. With a single slash, he could be gutted....it was almost insulting she had not brought any guard. But...as he painfully remembered, there were the guards with their annoying force-pikes...always forcing him back. Bowing his scaled head, he went into the submission pose of crossing both claws across his chest to Alema.
Re: Slave market service (CFR)
Alema had to restrain herself from curling her lip in distaste at being any slave's mistress. The guards opened Klassk's cage and hurriedly stepped away from it, bringing their force pikes to bear.
She'd known that Klassk must be dangerous and she'd seen his impressive skill in battle. However, these guards were well-trained and used to dealing with angry, bitter and desperate slave-warriors. They looked nervous around this Klassk. Who the hell is this person? Alema thought. What am I getting myself into?
"I'm no man's mistress," she told Klassk as the guards backed away, allowing him to step forward. A shadow of a frown crossed her face. "...I just didn't want to see anyone else die here." Bringing back the patronizing authority she reserved for the guards, she waved a hand at them. "I'm satisfied with this deal. Escort us out." With a glance to the fallen guard at Axl's feet she sneered. "I don't want any further interference from your coworkers."
Re: Slave market service (CFR)
Axl looked sheepishly. " Ah yeah, sorry about the guard, I war just checkin this guy out and he just stepped out and startled me!"
Axl raised an eyebrow to them all. " Um reflex action, sorry"
Axl held his hand behind his back, the throbbing pain was trying to get a grip on a grimace, but Axl was holding it all back.
Once the deal was done and jurt the three of them remained Axl looked to Alema.
"I was checking out an escape plan incase they didn't sell him to you, frikkin guard startled me, I should have looked before I swung, how was I to know he had a helmet and visop. Very near broke my hand."
Re: Slave market service (CFR)
Alema nodded to Axl. "It's not your fault. You couldn't have anticipated that he would attempt to interfere in a legitimate business deal. I know I was certainly surprised."
Oh thank Ryma'at he's playing along. Now that Alema was considering her options, it might be a very good thing Axl was around. While Klassk himself had little reason to lash out at her, she had no way of ensuring the cooperation of other criminals except the blaster rifle she wore. A little backup might be a very good thing.
"At any rate, I'm glad for your vigilance. If you weren't here The Maker only knows what might have happened." When a guard glanced over his shoulder at Alema, probably annoyed by her reaction, she shrugged. "Perhaps he was simply acting on his own and his actions shouldn't reflect on the rest of you, but I suggest you speak with him when he's conscious again."
Re: Slave market service (CFR)
Following the pair, Klassk was in a small state of shock at the apparent pair that he was to accompany. From what he could gather, Alema the Twi'lek was the mistress while Axl was her guard. Perhaps she thought he was enough protection from the Trandoshan.
Hissing with laughter loudly, Klassk continued to follow behind his new mistress. Axl was holding his hand in a way that made the reptile think it was injured.
Not a surprise, seeing as he had just shattered a guards visor with his bare hand. It wasn't bleeding but it was looking swollen.
It was odd though, that he hadn't been put into chains at least. He was just....walking alongside with the pair, like they weren't even concerned with him trying to break for freedom. And now where was he headed? Another fighting ring? A spice mine? or...Klassk shuddered at the thought...a heavy lifter in a dock. At least the fighting ring allowed him challenges, even a chance to fight against Wookies. But the others would be hell....
"Misstresss....where are we headed?"
Edited by: Klassk Verkrusk at: 7/15/07 3:20 pm
Re: Slave market service (CFR)"Misstresss....where are we headed?"
Alema took a deep breath and glanced over her shoulder at the taller alien. "My name is Alema. I've had enough masters that I don't need to be anyone else's." She took a deep breath and once they were past the remaining guards she felt comfortable speaking more freely. "I don't know about Axl's plans. It was just luck that he and I were in the same place today."
I'm not sure what he needs, what else I can do for him. I don't want him to just end up in another slave ring. This wasn't the first time Alema had done this, and hopefully this time would work out at least as well as the last.
"I live on the Crimson Ferret's Revenge, and I'm headed there now. If you don't mind a short stint on a pirate ship and there's somewhere you need to go, I'll do my best to see that you get there." She shook her head. "Can't exactly leave you right outside the front door here for them to grab you again."
Re: Slave market service (CFR)"My name is Alema. I've had enough masters that I don't need to be anyone else's. I don't know about Axl's plans. It was just luck that he and I were in the same place today."
Looking down at the Twi'lek, Klassk turned his head to the side as he observed her. She did not have the usual manner of a slaver or that of anybody type of underground, criminal type. All other masters that the Trandoshan had served demnaded obediance and subserviance. But this one seemed content to just let him be.
"No...you have paid creditss for me and have ownership of me, therefore you are my mistress. Any who claims ownership over me is my masster or mistress. And right now that iss you"
"I live on the Crimson Ferret's Revenge, and I'm headed there now. If you don't mind a short stint on a pirate ship and there's somewhere you need to go, I'll do my best to see that you get there."
Now this really confused him. The twi'lek spoke as if she was talking about giving him a home, letting him go where he wanted. But she had bought him, would she not keep him for whatever use she had for him.
"You have bought me from slavery of my old masster....I am now your slave Misstress..."
Re: Slave market service (CFR)
Being treated like some common slaveowner was one of few things that could really cause the Twi'lek to bristle in anger. "Stop saying that," she snapped. "I paid money to the man who owned you. That's it." She couldn't hold back a frustrated growl deep in her throat.
He'll never be able to accomplish anything on his own if all he understands is being passed from one set of hands to another.
She took a deep breath and let it out carefully, doing her best to keep herself steady. "Please stop trying to convince me to be your mistress. I won't." Her jaw set and she shook her head. For a moment she was afraid he wouldn't be able to keep himself away from this life of slavery, afraid that her efforts might be in vain simply because this Klassk didn't understand what she was asking of him. "I'm not interested. You're going to have to figure something out for yourself that doesn't involve somebody owning you like property."
She turned to him again, and now there was as much concern in her gaze as there was anger. "Can you do that?"Edited by: Alema Nilim at: 7/15/07 4:20 pm
Re: Slave market service (CFR)
Looking down at the Twi'lek, Klassk figured she must have had something wrong with her. She had just payed for him to be her property, and yet now she was saying she didn't. This was beginning to confuse the Trandoshan. If the Twi'lek was no longer his owner, then what was he to do? He had been taken as a slave, beaten in battle, therefore the great god Scorekeeper no longer viewed him as worth anything. Even the kills he had mustered as a gladiator had not counted for he had not kept any trophy of the kills besides his scars.
"Mistresss....you bought me...Until another buyss me or I am releassed of your sservice, you will be my mistress"
The Twi'lek did not seem to understand. Klassk COULD just slaughter the pair of them now but he would have nowhere to go, no way of making it back to Trandosha and avenging his captors, hopefully once again able to recieve Jagganath points that would determine his position in the afterlife. If he was left from the service of slavery, then he would be forced to pledge a life-debt to whoever relinquished him. But either way, he was unable to return to his homeplanet to avenge those that had captured him. If he had not been caught, then he would have many trophies to offer to The Scorekeeper, Jath hound horns, heads of Rodians, even a few prized Wookie pelts.
Edited by: Klassk Verkrusk at: 7/15/07 4:28 pm
Re: Slave market service (CFR)
Axl felt the same frustration that Alema felt, he turned to the solidly built Trandoshand to explain.
" Now listen up big fella, we both saw you fight, we both decided to free you from captivity. I tried to use my fists to do it, but Alema, well she's the smart one. She let her credits do the fighting, understand. She didn't buy you, her money beat up your owner"
Axl shrugged at Alema, " sorry but that's the best I got, he fights so maybe he will understand the analogy"
Re: Slave market service (CFR)
Looking down at Axl, Klassk felt even more confused than before. Scratching his head with an outstretched claw, ignoring the odd feeling of loose scales falling off, the huge reptile looked from the Alema to Axl. This was too much for the reptile to handle. Now BOTH were telling him that Alema wasn't his mistress. But he had seen her buy him so she MUST be his mistress. It didn't make sense.
"So...Mis-Alema" he gestured with one claw to the Twi'lek. "Bought me...but she isn't my Mistress. And you.." he gestured to Axl "Tried to buy me by fighting my old master....which didn't work."
Judging by the way the pair looked, that was as close to what happened as Klassk could understand. This was more confusing than when he had been told NOT to kill his downed opponent. Where was the honour in NOT killing ones defeated opponent. The Scorekeeper would have punished any Trandoshan who would dare to even THINK of it. Looking at both Twi'lek and Human, he brought his taloned arms together.
"Then who IS my master. I am in slavery until released, an a slave must have a master....who is it?"
Re: Slave market service (CFR)
Alema had desperately tried to hold back a smile at Axl's explanation, and had only partly succeeded. Axl, she thought. You're a genius.
And then even that hadn't been clear enough!
"Damn it, Klassk," Alema muttered. This was insane! How could this possibly be so difficult?
"Okay," she said. The Twi'lek was finally at the end of her rope. "Okay, if you're going to insist that I'm your mistress, fine. I'll humor you. As of now, I'm your mistress. But!"
She waited exactly three seconds. She counted.
One hydrospanner... two hydrospanner... three hydrospanner...
"And now I release you. I don't want you to be my slave. I don't want you to be anyone's slave. I want you to go have a life." She gave one last exasperated sigh. "Okay? Now is there somewhere you'd rather go than here? I really can try to get you out of this place."
Re: Slave market service (CFR)
She had said it. FINALLY the little blue thing had put it into words that Klassk could understand. This whole time she had been blabbering on about things like she wasn't his mistress and such but she was. But no longer. She had said the words that Klassk had wanted to hear for so long. He was free, no longer a slave. The Scorekeeper would look to him now, no longer finding him pathetic for becoming a slave. As soon as he could get to Trandosha, and enact his vengeance, his goddess would look upon him favourably. But he had another task now, one so important, that if not completed, he would be scorned in the afterlife forever more. Bending down on one knee, now at eye to eye level with the Twi'lek he crossed both arms across his chest and lowered his head into a bow.
"Mistresss Alema....For the boon of setting me free from the shackles of slavery, I enact the tradition of the life debt. My life is now yours, to do with it what you will. You are no longer Mistresss Alema, you are ghrakhowsk Alema. Where you go, I go, your enemies will be slaughtered by fang and claw, your friends shall be protected by blade and steel. "
Re: Slave market service (CFR)
Alema's jaw dropped when the great hulking lizardman knelt down to her level. "I...uh... whoa." She lifted her hands as if to wave away the craziness wafting through the air. "Look. Wow."
What? What the hell is going on? What am I supposed to do now?
She looked helplessly to Axl as she tried to protest and ended up with a few incoherent vowel noises. Axl couldn't help her. No one could help her. Things had gotten out of hand.
I'd forgotten about that! Why did he have to go and do this?
Alema really should have anticipated it, but she'd been so caught up in trying to do something that meant a great deal to her she hadn't even stopped to consider what it might mean to Klassk.
"All right. Um. Listen. Guys, let's just... go back to the ship and we'll... we'll figure all this out."
((OOC: Holy crap this has been fast. I think this intro thread is done. In one day. Klassk, Axl, thanks for that! I can't imagine this happens all that often....))
Edited by: Alema Nilim at: 7/15/07 8:15 pm
Re: Slave market service (CFR)
OOC: I'll bet, though the quote 'her credits beat up your master' was quite hilarious....Come to Velusia, where actions speak louder than words and money beats up old men for you!
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