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The brown-haired man smiled. "The Hawkbat, of course."
Priire grinned at him. "Not like there’s much to talk about," she lamented. Secretly, she was glad there was nothing to talk about. Priire herself was the famed Hawkbat... at least until a few months ago, when she hung up her mask and blaster cannon for good.
"Oh, there’s a lot to talk about!" the man said excitedly. "She’s back!" The blonde looked at him, confused.
"Really!" he said, gushing. "She was here a few days ago and everyone saw her!"
Despite the fact that Priire had been nowhere near this planetoid anytime in the recent past, she nodded for him to go on.
Before the exuberant male could continue, a dark form shadowed the entranceway. "There she is!" the man yelped quietly.
Priire knew very well that the figure could not be the Hawkbat. However, she looked interested as the woman marched through the cantina and ordered a drink. "I’ll be back," Priire snarled. Who ever this woman was, and why ever she was taking over the role of Hawkbat, Priire didn’t know. What she did know was that the woman would have to give up the mask she wrongfully took... or die.
Ippin was appalled. "Aster, what is it? Can I help? Talk to me!"
Looking away, Priire said, "I can’t."
"You can’t tell your sister what’s happening in your life. Thank you, Aster!"
The two girls glared at each other for a moment before Priire spoke. "All right. You want to know? There’s someone out there impersonating me..."
"It’s not you anymore."
Priire shot her a glare. "And I don’t want to be represented as a sleazy, good-for-nothing-" Priire spat out the Rodian word for streetwalker.
Even more shocked now, Ippin stared at her. "It means that much to you?"
A calming breath helped the blonde. She sighed, feeling a flashback to every time they had exchanged words over this very same subject. "Not like that. I told the Haze that I left their family. Left for good. I decided that I wanted this family more than I wanted anything else." She paused for a second and whispered, "More than I wanted to live." Then, louder, she continued. "If they hear that the Hawkbat is still operating, then we could all be in danger. Danger, Coru," Priire shuddered. "Worse than anything we’ve faced."
"Hawkbat!" she spat, knowing the merciless killer. She shook off a flashback to every time a merc of deadly repute had walked into Jabba’s palace.
"Hi, Oola!" the Hawkbat responded. "I’m sorry, I have places to go and people to kill." She raised a hand and shot a dart with a mild sedative in it at the Twi’lek. Her black gloved hands caught the other girl as she fell. Then the Hawkbat was gone.
They turned to look at the tall, well-proportioned woman in front of them. "Why?" one sneered. "Because you’re that almighty Hawkbat?" After a moment, he added on a curse not unlike the one the girl herself had uttered earlier.
It was a bad idea. She shrugged easily and turned away from him. A sharp movement turned the turn into a tight spin, whipping her body around and giving her the momentum she needed to slam her foot into his face and knock him out of the seat. Another kick and a solid punch were all that were needed to persuade his companion that he needed to leave as well.
The woman looked down on her fallen foes. "No," she answered his question. "Because I am the Hawkbat."
Sarcastic applause greeted her victory. "Bravo," an almost identically dressed woman said.
The newcomer’s outfit differed from the one that the woman who said she was the Hawkbat wore in several places. First off, the newcomer’s mask was black, with only a trace of dark blue around her eyes. She had no mission patch, and the loop slung over her shoulder was blue, not gray. Her hair was darker and closer to brown than the other girl had. The woman also had no gloves and shorter sleeves on her jumpsuit. Lastly, instead of straight black boots, the other woman had on blue lace-up shoes.
All in all, the Hawkbat was not impressed. "Who are you?" she asked, harshly.
"The Hawkbat, of course," the darker-haired one claimed.
The blonde scoffed. "Not likely. You don’t have the signs of trail that the true Hawkbat has."
The darker-haired woman didn’t look impressed. "And you would have them?"
"Of course."
"Prove it."
The blonde’s eyebrow went up. "You," she said, pointing to a brown-haired man. "You have a tape of the Hawkbat’s trial. Give it to me."
The tape was handed over and placed in the viewer. Everyone watched in horror as the Hawkbat took off her gloves on the screen and showed the pussy wounds. They looked at the Hawkbats in front of them as both took off their gloves.
The brown-haired man paused the tape as everyone examined the hands. The dark haired woman’s hands had no scars, while the blonde’s hands were crisscrossed horribly.
"Of course," the darker haired woman said, "I had them bacta treated so the scars would go away."
The blonde shook her head, scattering the braids in her ponytail. She didn’t speak but let the brown-haired man speak for her.
"That wouldn’t work. The Red Haze uses a special formula that interacts with bacta to kill the being. You’re," he paused. "You’re a fake!"
The woman backed against the wall trying to escape. "No!"
The real Hawkbat looked at her with little pity and intoned solemnly, "You have impersonated a former member of the Red Haze. The penalty for such is death by whatever means the member or former member chooses, provided it takes place in less than a week." Her green eyes cut straight to the imposter’s heart, freezing it within her. "I choose death by blaster." The other girl had no time to scream before the Hawkbat pronounced her sentence, drew her blaster and killed her.
"And she smells funny." The padawan was a native of Cathar, a felinoid. She arched her claws through the air. "Like old clothes and new metal."
The master laughed. "You have a sensitive nose, Chrone. And odd priorities."
"And fur!" Chrone added, giving him a toothy smile and tossing her red hair behind her shoulder.
The pair laughed.
Coru shook her head. "No, you didn’t."
"Yes, I did!"
Priire smiled at them and started scratching Solai’s head. "Oola, you did; Coru, she didn’t."
Oola glared at the blonde. "You are not helping. We could all be in grave danger!"
"The Hawkbat Priire was," Numako explained. "The Hawkbat she is no longer."
All three stuck their tongues out at each other and started laughing.
"Understand you I do not!" Numako sighed.
Their communicators went off and the four girls answered them as one. "Yes?"
"This is Boshi, down near the Conspiracy Cantina! There is at least one, maybe more, Sailor Sith here! We need back up!"
"What were you doing that far out?" Priire asked, surprised.
"Umm..." Boshi stalled. "Shopping?"
"We’ll be right there," Oola exclaimed.
The Twi’lek was getting up another attack when Asteroid laid a hand on her arm. "Ah, I think it’s dead now."
She blinked and smiled sheepishly. "I guess so."
Suddenly, the Sailor Sith turned on them. She cackled as she unleashed her black death lightning.
"Sithspit!" Asteroid yelled as she, Shooting Star, and Ryloth dove out of the way.
Unexpectedly, two lightsabers slashed over the Sailors' heads to deflect the lightning. A furry and clawed hand reached down to help Asteroid up. "Hi! I’m Chrone Jis’a," the equally furry face smiled.
"Sailor Asteroid," Asteroid introduced herself. "Starbred Senshi of stone, defense, and... duck!"
"Ducks?" Chrone asked, swinging her lightsaber around to smash an oncoming set of salt shakers from the Sith.
"No, the rest of that is redemption. These are Sailor Ryloth, Yavin, Shooting Star, Dahgobah, and Vjun... Have I mentioned duck lately?" Asteroid threw her shower power into the lighting to disperse it.
Solai caught his balance again on Asteroid’s shoulder. He snarled at the Sith.
Yavin tossed her gem daggers at Eimin, distracting the evil person while Vjun, Chrone, and Chrone’s master hacked at her with their lightsabers. The cat woman snarled and slashed at the Sith with her claws. Eimin shoved the cat away and kicked Vjun backwards, leaving the Jedi Master open to her attack. "Black Death Lightning!" she screamed.
"Is anyone else having Obi-Wan flashbacks?" Vjun muttered, and Chrone went down on her knees by her fallen master.
The cat howled in sheer pain as her master died. Tears of crystal blue made their way down her furred cheeks. "No," she hissed unbelievingly. "No!"
Yavin attacked with her Corusca dust, trying to keep the Sith from the fallen Jedi. Asteroid helped anchor the dust into a wall with her gravity force. Despite their best tries, the Sailor Sith broke through and launched the lightning at Chrone.
The Cathar female’s back arched, and her fur stood on end. The red hair on her head crackled with the dark energies. To the surprise of every Sailor present, the fur on her forehead blazed with a starburst sign.
Solai stared in amazement. "Why... hey, baby," he said to Asteroid. "Hey, that’s the symbol for Cathar!"
"A try worth it is," Dagobah said.
The others agreed. "Chrone!" Ryloth shouted. "Say..." she froze, unsure of the words.
Solai supplied them. "Cathar Forest Power, Make UP!"
The cat-like girl whispered the words. They caused the deep blue stone in her choker to ignite and spread beams of energy all over her body. Suddenly, the cat girl was a Sailor. She had a white fuku with a green skirt and bib. White gloves covered her arms with blue at the tops. Around her waist, above the skirt, was a band of blue. The stone set in her tiara was dark blue like the one in her choker.
"Cathar Cat Claw!" she yelled. The attack leapt toward Eimin, who quickly zapped herself an escape hole and disappeared.
"Hi," the cat said, looking around as if she was stunned. "I’m Sailor Cathar."
Asteroid gave her an encouraging smile. "Do you want to come with us, the rest of the Sailor Senshi?"
Sailor Cathar shrugged. "Why not. There’s nothing else for me anymore."
Asteroid laid a hand on the saddened Sailor’s arm. "We’re here."
Cathar smiled sadly. "But he isn’t." The girl looked around at the new faces she knew she’d live with. If they wanted her. The last notion that occurred to her before they left the planet was a flashback to when she’d left her home on Tatoonie to join the Jedi. Leaving one family for another.
