"You won't be able to keep us here long. Do you have any idea who we are? You're all dead men-- AAAaaaAAAAHHHHHHH!!"

Quin writhed and screamed and arched and tore at her restraints as the voltage being pumped into her body was turned up. The brutal shock went on for what seemed to be hours even though it lasted mere seconds. When it fizzled out she hung limp from her wrists on the wall. Her legs refused to support her. She struggled to regain her breath.

They were somewhere deep below the glamorous casino lobby and ballroom in a place that was damp and filthy and reeking of rust and sweat. The walls were unfinished with pipes and wiring left bare. The doors were heavy, rudimentary steel with ugly locking mechanisms. The room they were in now contained what seemed to be holding cells and paddocks, strange alien devices of unimaginable utility, devices shaped to humanoid form but in a fearsome manner, and the overwhelming sense of fear and death. A dungeon.

"We know who you are. Two slimy little snakes trying to pull a fast one on Mr. Thexys," the burly, but clean cut security, guard snorted, "Mr. Thexys doesn't tolerate snakes."

"Tch-- Sh-- D-Drop the b-bad cop act," Quin hissed, "Just kill us if we're so intolerable. You aren't going to do it? Are you?"

"No. I wouldn't dare come between Mr. Thexys and his leisure. He is a man who fiercely enjoys certain kinds of sport. And you. You are a rare treat with an overabundance of fight in you. I know you will make this interesting, but I wonder about your friend here."

One of the other guards snickered and shook his head before his leader pushed a small switch and sent the same vicious jolt through the restraints on Nyrette's neck and wrists. The woman next to Quin grit her teeth together and groaned at first, resisting the pain. But she only lasted seconds under the onslaught before she too screamed out in agony, gave in and collapsed. Quin watched in horror and squirmed. A horrible knot formed in her gut until the screaming stopped. She snarled and spat at the man. She cut her wrists on the cuffs, threw herself and kicked at the wall behind her in an attempt to get free. The guard started to walk over.

"You're going to be the last one to die! You hear me!?" Quin shrieked, "I'm gonna shoot out every joint in your body starting with the wrists and ankles and watch you wriggle around on the floor like a fucking worm! I'm gonna peel your skin and laugh while--"

The huge guard delivered a full force uppercut into her stomach. It was followed by another and another and another until something inside her cracked. He stopped. She curled and wheezed, unable to fill her lungs. Her head spun and she panicked. A few moments later she was able to take in a long, slow, strangled stretch of air and groaned weakly.

The guard looked between Quin and Nyrette with a coy smile.

"Touched a sore spot didn't I?" he hummed, "I get a kick out of you sentimental types."

"Sir," one of the other guards spoke up, "Delta team is bringing in three more prisoners. More than likely the incidents are related."

[i] Oh, no... [/i]

The head guard smirked at Quin once more and shrugged his shoulders in a lackadaisical way, "Woops."

"Gamma team is being dispersed to the floor to make up for lost man power."

"Lost man power?" he looked over his shoulder with a raised brow.

"Yessir. The prisoners resisted. Six men have been sent to hospital. One is in critical condition."

As he was speaking the sound of several more voices could be heard outside the door. The distant shouting and struggling grew in intensity until finally the thick door was thrown open and the tuxedo'd captives were roughly hauled through leaving Quin with no hope that the rest of the crew might have gotten away. The Trandoshan, Cheshik, was the first. Stripped of his weapons, muzzled and flanked by hulking aliens on each arm. The next two, whom they had some trouble getting through the door as they were both in a raging frenzy and the guards seemed desperate to keep them away from each other were Zen and Iisska. The former was bleeding from a deep wound on his upper arm and lashing out with a kick aimed at the latter who was halfway into a rudimentary muzzle himself with blood staining his teeth and cheek. He nearly dragged a man over trying to headbutt Zen when they were let a little too close. The two were dragged to opposite ends of the room.

"WHORE BASKET!!" Zen yelled at the top of his lungs.

His would be attacker yelled something indiscernible through his gag and snorted. It looked like Iisska would start going after his captors next, but he caught sight of Quin and Nyrette. The fighting stopped. He stared at them in confusion and then anger and then fear.  Wide eyes darted around the horrible room as the weight of the situation sank deeper. All three of them were quickly restrained.

"Well. Fuck. Me," the large man shook his head at the spectacle, "Women, beasts, bad-asses and colleagues. Mr. Thexys is going to have one hell of a night.”



[hr]


Hand crafted calf-skin oxfords with leather and cork soles clicked sharply down the hall. They all but drowned out the droning thud of the body guard's boots close behind.

"Ding dong. The King is dead," the low, grinding robotic voice sung, "I trust you have begun the procurement of our late friend's assets? How are things progressing?"

He paused and allowed the person on the other side of the communicator to speak.

"Good. This makes me happy. Now then. I am finished with business for the day. I have more personal things to see, but should you call, my secretary will make sure I am made aware of your needs. Good night."

The immaculate businessman turned off the communicator and gently slipped it into his tuxedo pocket with very long, clawed and webbed fingers. He unclipped his cuff-links and loosened his collar with a delicate grace and precision. Afterward he let out a long relaxed sigh that registered as a mechanical hiss from the cybernetics that sealed his mouth and throat. 

"Call for me a pitcher of water and bottle of brandy, Cael," he waved a slender arm and looked over his shoulder.

The body guard nodded and spoke softly into his headset. The pair soon approached an unassuming door in the center of the maze that made up the massive underworks of the casino and hotel complex above. The businessman rolled his shoulders out and let his overcoat slide off his arms before handing it to the body guard.

"Do you wish to attend to the door this time?" the man asked before chuckling. The chuckle was a noise made terrifying by the cybernetics.

"I go where you go, Sir," Cael nodded. 

"There's the stones I hired you for," his boss replied, "Good. But should you need to vomit I'll not say anything. I may laugh, but not say anything."

The door opened. A tall, thin, near ethereal Selkath male floated in with only the click of his heels as evidence that he was walking at all. His brilliant blue eyes rolled in their sockets and his head turned slowly as he looked at all of his captives one by one. Steady, hissing, metal breaths filled the silence that entered the dungeon with him. He began to roll up his sleeves.

"The women look worse for wear," the Selkath commented, "I hope they have some defiance left in them. They should if they had resolve to cross Radon Thexys... A moment... I know you. You are the crew who assassinated our dear friend Olok, are you not? Yes. Yes you are. I payed you a small fortune. You should be drunk and happy far away from here. Yet here you are biting the hand that feeds you. Shame for you. Joy for me. Cael, I will be needing someone to find their ship. Take it and get me my money back. And as for you five..."

Radon held out his hand. Into it was placed a broad, vibro-dagger with an exquisite hilt.

"We are going to party until the sun comes up, as they say... Perhaps longer, even. You there, get for me the branding irons, a hammer and a chisel. So... Who would like to go first?"

Radon approached Zen first and ran the edge of the blade under his jaw, splitting the skin until it bled and no further. He traced a shallow bloody line down the front of his neck, through his clothing and down his chest. 

"I am told that if not for you, the rest of them may have got their hands on a prize and lived for a few more hours before I tracked them down. I think you will be more personal, more experimental option to save for later."

He passed by Cheshik and looked him over carefully. Then he placed the blade under one of the thicker scales on his face and began to twist so it was pried upward out of the skin. He applied pressure with more and more force very slowly while cooing. "Oh. Never had one of you before. I am curious about Trandoshans. What does it look like inside, I wonder? Are you really so tough?" The force he was putting between scale and flesh was begining to test the strength in his hand but finally it snapped. The root gave out and pulled away leaving a deep wound. Radon ripped it the rest of the way out. He inspected it and narrowed his eyes at Cheshik.

"It is beautiful in the right light. I would like to take more. Perhaps I will be needing the whole pelt. Looks difficult to remove, but I could maybe make something of it."

He set the scale down on a table on his way across the room then approached Iisska. The Togruta glared up at Radon, snarled and snorted and tried to chew through the gag the guards had put on him. When the Selkath tried to put his hands on him he bucked and lashed forward with threatening, but completely stifled words.

"What are you? An animal? I expect such things from the likes of your reptile friend, but from you it is unbecoming," Radon shrugged, "But it does not concern me. I'm sure you are far less strong than  you like others to think."

When Iisska did not stop thrashing or trying to swear at him Radon lashed out and grabbed him roughly by one of his lekku and used it to yank his head down to a position where he could not struggle as much. The pain and shock caused him to hiss and he suddenly became motionless.

"However, I like the fight. See if you can prove me wrong," the Selkath turned the blade in his fingers, "Also, these heal well don't they?" he laughed, "What am I saying?"

The knife caught him across the chest first as it was slashed like a whip in front of him. But the Togruta was suddenly left dazed by a sudden imbalance in his skull and a mind-numbing, white hot pain that spread all the way through his head and into his collar bone.

The muffled screaming only seemed to delight Radon who was now chuckling softly to himself. He dropped the severed lekku in the small puddle of blood that was now dripping onto the ground and started toward the girls.

"Do you really have no eyes?" he asked Nyrette and started to run a finger under the cloth on her face. She pulled her head back, "Fascinating." 

Radon raised the knife into the air above Nyrette and brought it down.

"NO!" It was Quin who screamed out at him.

The cloth that concealed the place where her eyes should have been fell, cut in two around her neck. A slight trickle of blood ran down her cheek where Radon had accidentally grazed her. He examined her face with the utmost curiosity but slowly turned his eyes on the other woman. He watched closely as he pressed the blade to Nyrette's neck. She merely swallowed, set her jaw and put up no struggle. But Quin squirmed. She had bitten her lip to keep her self from saying anything else, but it had already been too much. 

"Oh ho ho. This is good. I like this," Radon put his hand on Nyrette's shoulder, "You will be first... and third, and fifth, and seventh. Little bit at a time. I do enjoy you females more anyway. So soft. And you," he pointed the blade at Quin while getting very close to Nyrette's face, "You go last. Enjoy the show."