The Dark Siders Chronicles

The night was long, but she didn't really mind it. Perhaps that was because when the sun broke over the cluttered horizon, it would bring with it the red light of bloodshed. Nagareboshi fingered her tripod-mounted blaster and waited in the forest along the road for her target. Waiting was the worst part of the event. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Really, the violet haired girl would rather be raiding or blowing up something. It was much simpler.

But this... oh, this would be delicious revenge. Boshi had no ideals about righting wrongs and curing evils; she only wanted to make someone who had hurt her pay. And pay in blood. Anger rushed to the surface, and her eyes narrowed. Any minute now she would see the skitter and she would target the lone figure and she would have her revenge.

One time in the marketplace, the blaster toting beauty had heard some idealistic fool ranting about loving your neighbor and turning the other cheek. That kind of nonsense worked in the Core Systems, but rimward, things were different. There was different set of rules, and each one started with cheating. Only an experienced smuggler or hunter could interpret and bend those rules to her own advantage... and Boshi could. Oh, how she could. But if someone wronged her...

A low hum filled the air, alerting the girl. She could feel her prey approaching as she reached out with all her senses to feel the presence of the man she would kill.

There was a warm glow reaching toward the horizon, stretching out to hold the early morning dew in its embrace. Boshi only noticed this because there was more light for her to sight her blaster by. One shot, one death, one revenge.

There it was. The white skitter was silhouetted against the black backdrop of trees and cityscape. Perfect. The man was standing, scanning the roads for either animal or person. He wouldn't see her through the trees and bushes that she had hidden herself behind. Oh, she could taste the lum she would have to celebrate this kill. The smile on her face and light in her eye were already apparent. A little twitch of her blaster lined it up perfectly with the man's head, and then she stopped.

He ought to at least know, Boshi thought to herself. The girl balanced the gun on the tripod and took out her personal blaster. Its silver barrel laced with black was a stark contrast to the red-kissed forest around her. The smile on her face widened as the skitter drew closer.

The man still scanned the roads, and Boshi waited until his eyes were right on her before she stepped out of the forest. Her blaster lined up on his head and she pulled the trigger. Shock filled his face, first at the thought that this woman had shot him, then at the fact that nothing happened.

Just as he threw his head back to laugh at her foolishness for using a defective blaster, the ticker on the bomb that Boshi had secreted away in the skitter finished its countdown. A dark smile flowed over her face as she reveled in the moment of revenge, letting it wash over her like the rays from the sun.

Maybe I'll have two drinks, Boshi smiled to herself as she watched the skitter destroy itself in the glow of the early morning sun.

"What on earth is that?"

"Actually, I think it's flying. So it'd be 'What in air?' "

Nagareboshi shook her head. "Priire! I just want to know what it is."

With that, Seijoutai Priire laughed. "It's just a ship. Probably some rich offworlder looking to make a few credits."

"Oh." She seemed to sag a little. "That's not very interesting."

"What? You thought it was some kind of animal?" Priire grinned at her. "Your imagination is running away with you. The only animals here are the intelligent kind."

The two Sailors were on Nal Shadda, hoping that this Sith sighting would be far less interesting than the last one. Of course, with Priire and Boshi, it wouldn't be all fun and games. There was a very high possibility that either Priire was going to shoot someone or someone would shoot Priire. Then there was the possibility that Boshi would get arrested for picking up some black market merchandise. It was, after all, the Smuggler's Moon.

The two pretty girls walked down the streets of Nal Shadda's Corellian Sector. Neither felt too out of place, Priire having been a smuggler and Boshi having been an all-around bad girl. The blonde had a piece of ryscake, the Corellian celebration cake. When Boshi asked her what she was celebrating, Priire gave her a piece of the cake. Boshi agreed that the taste of the cake was a reason to celebrate! Then the lavender-haired girl wanted to go shopping, much to Priire's dismay. All the blonde liked shopping for was weapons and ships. Not clothes, not jewelry, not pets, not shoes, not rugs, not curtains, not anything!

"Wow, look at that jewelry!" Boshi exclaimed quietly. "One gets you ten that it's stolen."

Priire offered up a roguish grin and gestured to the marketplace setting in front of them. Her black gloved hand took in almost every booth. "One gets you ten that almost everything here is stolen."

Considering this, the other girl cocked her head to the side, letting lavender locks fall in her face. She brushed them out of her eyes with her hand. "Not everything. Can't be."

"I wouldn't bet on that, little lady," a gruff voice said from behind them. "What's a girl like you doing in a place like this? Or more like, what's a pair of girls like you doing in a place like this?"

Neither girl moved. Priire's hand was already near her blaster, but she didn't think she could get it before something else happened. Boshi had slid a throwing knife in her hand, only waiting for the right moment to use it. Each could tell that the other's body was tensed for a fight.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" The man grabbed Boshi's arm and swung her around to face him. "Pretty little thing, aren't you."

Priire had taken the initiative to slip out of the road to find a dark alley. Since most of the alleys were dark, it was easy to find one that suited her. Reaching up with a gloved hand, she grabbed the necklace around her throat and said, "Asteroid Star Force, Make UP!" Sailor Asteroid grinned and said to herself, "I think we'll just go kick some smuggler butt."

"Let me go!" Boshi snarled at the man as she raked her nails across his face. Her knife was already buried in the ground where he'd knocked it from her hands. He grabbed her neck and shook the lavender-haired girl.

A new, powerful voice came on the scene. "It's not nice to beat up on pretty girls. I'm the Senshi of Stone, Defense, and Redemption, the Dark Sailor, Sailor Asteroid! And for the stars, I'll punish you!"

"Ooo, I'm scared," the man taunted waving his huge hand. "Your kind is just a legend. Fake!"

Boshi put her hands to her mouth, trying to hide a smile. Just wait until Asteroid got finished with him. He'd start believing in the monster under the bed!

"I'll show you a fake. Asteroid Shower Power!" The blonde Sailor knocked the man away from Boshi, giving the other girl time to get away and transform into Sailor Shooting Star.

The man himself looked surprised at the small asteroids embedded in his body and the larger ones surrounding him. "Sith!" he cursed.

"You rang?"

Asteroid shook her head. "Aw, now look what you've done."

Emi took a bow. "Presenting," she said dramatically, "Sailor Sith Eimin!"

The Sailor Sith was very surprised when a booted foot hit her right in her behind. "Have I mentioned I don't really like you lately?" Sailor Shooting Star posed with a grin. "I'm the Senshi of Light and Sparkle! You're trying to bring darkness to our galaxy? I don't think so!" A blast from Shooting Star sent the Sith reeling backwards.

The man who was the source of all the problems shrunk away, hardly believing his eyes. Not only were the Sailor Jedi real, but there were Sailor Sith as well. This could not be good.

"Black Hole Engulf!" Emi growled. She threw her evil attack at the sailors, making them duck.

"No way, fiendish Sith!" Shooting Star yelled. "This maybe a Smuggler's Moon, but there is good to protect. So why don't you just leave?"

Rolling her eyes, the Sith shot another attack at the two. "Here, little Senshi. Try this on for size!" Emi created a huge black hole between herself and the Sailors. No matter which way they moved it was between them and her. All the attacks that the two tried to throw disappeared into its greedy mass.

Asteroid shook her head after another ineffective attack. "This isn't working, Shooting Star. We've got to try something more drastic."

Sailor Shooting Star didn't hear her. She was fuming.

"Maybe if we com..." the blonde started. Looking at the other girl, she started to sound worried. "Shooting Star, are you listening to me? Helloooo!" She waved her hand. "This is your partner speaking! Sailor Asteroid to Sailor Shooting Star, come in Shooting Star!"

Emi laughed, almost as evilly as the Sailors had seen Kendra grin. "So this is the famous Sailor teamwork. Oooh, maybe this is why you've never laid a hand on us. Or maybe you need your little friends to help you. Awww, does Sailor Asteroid need her boyfriend to come save her?"

"I don't need anyone to help me, Sith!" the Dark Sailor snarled. "Shooting Star, we can beat this girl. Let's combine our powers here..."

The girl was not listening. Something else, seeming faraway, had the lavender-haired girl's attention. Her eyes narrowed and faded out. Sailor Shooting Star raised her white gloved hands and spoke words that Asteroid was afraid to hear. "Smuggler Anger Release!"

A glowing red ball burst into existence from her chest and ricocheted off the hands that she had stretched above her head. The glow rushed headlong toward the very surprised Sith. The speed and the power of Shooting Star's dark attack left Emi without resort. There was no time for the Sith to dodge or repel it.

Blood poured from a cut in Emi's arm and one on her cheek. "What the Jedi?" she cursed. If it had been other circumstances, maybe one of the Sailors would have laughed at the reversal of Asteroid's favorite curse. Neither said anything as Shooting Star collapsed to her knees and the Sailor Sith disappeared.

"Fiendish."

Priire said nothing. The two were back in the Black Fire Talon, preparing for takeoff. The blonde's hands moved restlessly over the control board, assuming a busy air.

"What do you think?" Boshi asked her friend. Boshi was in the back of the Talon, fiddling with her safety harness. "We've both got these... how did Mirri put it?"

"Dark sider."

Boshi nodded. "We've both got dark sider attacks. I wonder if everyone has them?"

Answering the first question before the other, more rhetorical one, Priire said, "We're in trouble."

She seemed almost afraid to ask her next question, but did anyway. "Does everyone have them? Are we all dark siders?"

Priire shook her head. "No. It'd be almost impossible. You and I... well, we did things we're not proud of before we became Senshi. But the others were better people than we were. Think about it. Could Annika have done anything bad? Or one of the Jedi Sailors? Whatever they've done, they've paid for. The time has come for us.. and I guess this is the way we pay our dues."

"By living them?" the other whispered. "I don't think I want to do that. Wait, I'm sure I don't want to do that."

Shrugging, Priire started the liftoff sequence as she got the go-ahead. "None of us do. None of us."

Boshi looked up at the stars and asked them the questions in her mind. They were silent, like always.