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Coru could make her feel so guilty. The redhead had been gently poking and prodding Priire to the point where she was ready to snap. And all Coru wanted was for her to leave the Red Haze. Priire laughed quietly. All!
"Yippee! Rest and relaxation!" Audra yelled. The Senshi had been searching for days to find a good planet to make camp on for a few days. Priire had suggested it. She must have noticed all the girls getting frayed around the edges.
Priire grinned. "This place is a good one. Ednar III. Just...don't watch the HoloVid," she warned.
"Why not?" Audra asked, dismayed. She liked watching the HoloVid!
Well," Priire said, only half smiling. "Well, They're showing 'Best of the Massacres' on the main channel and a few of the smaller ones."
Kumo-chan looked offended. "That's awful!"
"I know," Priire said quietly. She had other reason for not wanting them to watch. One of the massacres was attributed to the Red Haze. You could see her starfighter among the flying killers. She didn't want them to know until she straightened it out. Coru was right; her past could kill.
Priire made sure the Black Fire Dreamer was secured before she left. The Sailors were all gone to their little pleasures. She made sure that they got hotel rooms instead of staying in the ships. Her room-were she wouldn't be staying-was on the far side of the floor she'd had reserved for them. They were supposedly a field trip group. She smiled. It would be a while before anyone noticed she was missing. Her room was with Coru. The redhead would probably make some excuse about Priire wanting to stay on the ship to make sure nothing happened. Soon, though, Coru would get suspicious. Priire almost hoped that she'd be the one to find the Black Fire Talon's empty berth.
Now, however, she had to change.
The black-clad being would have been unrecognizable to any of her friends. She was no longer a girl, but a woman. She was no longer a good being, but one of almost evil. Her body was covered from head to toe in a skintight black modified flight suit. The outfit set off by a blue-black mask. It only covered the upper half of her face, but lent the woman an air of deadly danger. One of her mercenary acquaintances-no woman like this could be said to have true friends-had aptly described her saying "Treacherous schemer, pretty daydreamer."
The black clad woman strode down the corridor to her ship. Her walk was one of confidence; no one would dare challenge the Hawkbat.
Her ship started up and she shot out of the hanger bay. She had the cover of darkness on her side, but just for luck she turned on the scanner block. Her ship danced lightly as she followed the terrain. It was easy for her to keep the beauty on track, but harder for her to keep her mind on the things she need to think about. The Hawkbat didn't question that she had to leave the Red Haze, her only question was how she was to accomplish that monumental task.
"ASTER!" Coru yelled down the corridors of the Dreamer. The tall blonde hadn't been seen fore three days. That was very unlike the pretty girl. "PRIIRE! SEIJOUTAI PRIIRE!"
Her words echoed down the barren halls. "I have a bad feeling about this," Ippin muttered as she walked down the halls. She suddenly got a sick feeling in her stomach. "No...Aster..." she groaned. An impulse sent her flying down the halls to the smallest cargo bay. It was gone. The starfighter's berth was empty. It looked like a black hole; one that Coru was afraid had swallowed her friend.
The redhead sadly walked into the only occupied hotel room. Audra was there, munching on some small snack and watching the HoloVid.
"What are you watching?" Ippin asked, half-heartedly.
Audra jumped half out of her skin and responded quickly, "Nothing!"
Just then the announcer came on. "We interrupt 'Best of the Massacres' for this important announcement!"
Coru glared at Audra. "Didn't Priire say not to watch that?"
The little brunette offered a half smile. "Ummmm..."
The other girl sighed, then yelled. "That's Priire's starfighter!" she cried, recognizing the small ship on the frozen screen. "Oh no."
Audra grabbed the comm link and shouted into it. She told all the Sailors to get back to her hotel room as fast as they could.
Ippin tossed a tape in, just in case the other girls didn't get back in time. The Force was with her however. As a slew of commercials danced across the screen, one by one the Sailors came in. Her face crinkled in a frown, Coru explained that Audra had been watching the HoloVid and saw Priire's starfighter participating in one of massacres. The other girls gasped, unbelieving. The Jedi just shook his head. He knew something like this would happen.
The announcer's voice cut through the pandemonium. "We have interrupted the ‘Red Haze Massacre’ to bring you the common-trial of the Hawkbat!"
"WHAT!" The five Terran Sailors cried.
"What's a common trial?" someone asked.
The Jedi explained, "The people get to choose the being's fate. The Hawkbat has little chance of anything but death."
Audra knew that the Hawkbat was Priire, but it hadn't really set in on exactly what could happen. "She could die?"
No one answered. If this was because the trial had started or if it was because no one wanted to voice their fears is unknown.
All eyes were glued to the HoloVid as a black clad woman was lead to the front. Her upper face was covered by a blue-black mask. It was the same color as Priire's ships. Horror filled their faces to the same degree that a snarl twisted the girl's pretty lips.
"Now," the announcer said cheerily, "We will unmask the dangerous Hawkbat!"
As his hand reached up to undo her mask, the braided girl appeared to ponder biting him for a moment then decided against it. Her hands tensed against her bonds as the mask came off. Her green eyes flashed like an angry ocean as the crowd gasped.
"You're not the Hawkbat! You're only a child!" the announcer accused.
For the first time, the darkly clad girl spoke. "A child could not carry out the destruction I have done. A child could not have planned the ruthless attacks I wove like threads. A child could not do the things I do. I may be a child in age, but in experience I am much older."
The crowd rumbled with approval. The girl was a good speaker. Coru swallowed hard. After all the fiascoes she and Priire had been through and caused, it was hard to see this.
The announcer stumbled over his next words. "We..." he recoved himself. "We have seen your face...but what is your name?"
The crowd surged. This was what they wanted. They wanted, almost needed to know who the Hawkbat really was.
The girl knew this. You could see it in her eyes. She also almost wanted to take credit for the complex plans she'd woven, but something prevented her. "I cannot," she said softly.
"Why not?" the man demanded. "Tell us!
When she did not respond, he struck her across the face. His hand left a welt; and where his ring raked across her face, there was a bruise appearing. He was stronger than he looked.
The girl looked down, then back up at him. "Betrayal does not come easily to me."
The crowd roared. They wanted to know her name!
It wasn’t often one of your best friends was on trial for her very life and not deny anything. Someone sniffled. The Jedi just sighed. He knew that one day the girl's checkered past would catch up with her. He had wished that it would be later. The girl's inevitable death would be a harsh blow for the Senshi. They would be easy targets as they dealt with their grief. He hoped the Sailor Sith wouldn't attack them at their most vulnerable hour.
"What do you plead?" the announcer growled. Someone had handed him a wicked looking whip. The girl must have know that his hand was itching to strike her with it.
The blonde stood straight and looked him square in the eye. As he turned away she gave her answer, shouting it out in to the deafening silence, "Guilty as charged!"
The Senshi who didn't already have tears in their eyes let them fall down their cheeks. Some had held out vain hope that maybe she was innocent, free from the horror. Right before the trial, a video of the Red Haze Massacre had been shown. It was horrible. The bloodbath was terrible to behold. And to think, Priire arranged it. Some were wondering if they really knew her at all. Coru sat away from the others, sad for her friend.
The whip arched above her and slashed into her back. It was apparent that during the commercial breaks, and the time taken to show the video, she had been hit with it. However, the girl was strong. She hardly flinched, knowing that it was to protect her friends. If she gave out their names, it would be easy to find them. She was strong for them.
"Any last words?" the announcer gloated, holding the whip under her chin forcing it up.
The girl smiled softly. "A few," she said. "First, to Coru. Be proud of me. I quit, and you see the thanks I get? I'm glad I did it, and I'll miss you. Be strong for the others.
"And to my...other...friends. I'm sorry. I told you not to trust me once. But you did. I told you I'd betray you, but you ignored me. I see what real friendship is now. You gave it to, and by this last act, I hope to give it back. Please, remember me well.
"To that Sithspawn Jedi...maybe I meant it maybe I didn't. It doesn't matter now I suppose. I'll see you in the after life.
"And to you," she said, addressing the quiet crowd. It was a few moments before she spoke.
Kirin bit her lip. She could see other Sailors crying. It wasn't exactly what Priire said; it was more in the way she said it. Priire knew these could be her last moments, yet she spoke calmly and coolly. It was like looking down the business end of a battle droid and laughing. She hoped the blonde wouldn't...Kirin could voice her last thoughts, even to herself.
All the girls were staring at the HoloVid, captivated by Priire's manner and her words. The girl had the gift necessary to keep attention.
"To you, my condemners-though you have accessed me of nothing I have not freely admitted-my judges-though any judgement you rain down on me I have not already accepted and taken unto myself-my," she looked down for a moment. "The mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, friends of some I have killed."
The crowd rumbled like a volcano.
"I tell you nothing untrue. Yes I killed some of them. Yes I planned killings of others. But if you should condemn me to death, you will be murdering innocence."
A low growl traveled through the crowd. This killer of children, innocent?
"I say I have done all these things, yet am innocent. It is a paradox. The Hawkbat is truly the killer, murderess. I am no longer this being. She has died inside me. I carry her knowledge, her thoughts, her instincts, her training; but she herself is dead. I will never again subject any to the Hawkbat's wrath.'
Coru let out a quiet yell. Aster was free of the mercs!
"If there is any wrath left." She paused, reading the crowd. "I have lost what I was for love of my friends."
The crowd was in a trance-like state, listening to her every word. The Sailor Jedi were held captive by her words as well.
"If you electrocute me through bacta, letting my body heal just enough to feel pain before almost killing me again; if you sear my skin off with red hot irons, then work your way over my body; if you carve off body parts piece by bloody piece; if you put me in an airtight container and pump the air out over days to see if I die of suffocation dehydration or starvation first; then you will have killed an innocent Jedi. I protect form evil like what I was, and I watch the worlds to be sure of freedom like I have taken away. Condemn me, if you must, and let it be on my head. But I shall always survive. You can kill my body or kill my mind but my spirit will always survive. Carry the black fire torch for me, Coru," she finished, telling her friend to take care of her ships.
That was the last straw. Coru's eyes filled with crystal tears. She didn't want to believe that this was the last time she'd see her friend, but she could feel it in her spirit. And she never even got to say goodbye!
The crowd's roar escalated as the announcer came forward. "Which of the ways she has suggested shall we use to punish her for the deaths of our children!" he yelled.
The crowd was quiet. Finally, a lone voice spoke up. "I don't think we should."
"What?" the announcer cried.
The Sailors held their breath. Was it true?
"No...no...no...no...no," the word was louder and louder as more people took up the blonde's cause.
He turned grumpily to her. "You have been pardoned by the masses. What is your name?"
Her sad half-smile reappeared. "I cannot tell you."
The man sighed softly. Then he spoke with fire in his eyes. "She has killed our children!" He let the words echo. "She may be pardoned, but she still must be punished!"
The cruel, unappeased appetites roared with glee at this suggestion. "Burn her hands!" a cruel voice cried.
"Burn them! Burn them!" the crowd shouted.
"My hands have been punished enough," she said quietly, almost begging.
"Burn them!" the crowd responded.
Laughing, the announcer untied her hands, and jerked them forward. It was unlike her, but tears sprang to the blonde's eyes. The Sailors knew that Priire's hands were her most important asset. Without them, she couldn't do most of the things she was best at.
The announcer began to yank her gloves off harshly. All of the girl's muscles were tensed and trembling. "If you must, then let me take them off," she told him, biting back a scream.
He relented. The girl tenderly worked the black gloves off, gentle as a breeze. When the gloves came off she set them on the ground, and presented her hands to the crowd.
Most of the front row pushed backwards, trying to get away from the horrifying things. They had heard of the living death the Red Haze inflicted on its members who dared try to leave, but almost none had seen it. Priire's hands, back and palm, were crisscrossed by cuts-whether deep or shallow no one could tell. They were horribly inflamed, with streaks of purple and blue connecting the gashes. Yellow splotches adorned her fingertips like caps. Her knuckles were bare, almost showing the bone underneath. Pus was oozing from different places. Some had an ointment on them, trying to help the wounds heal. This was the punishment the Red Haze inflicted on its members who dare to tell them they wished to leave. Priire knew it. She had helped mix up the solution that was put in the wounds herself. It was good in a way. She knew the basic formula--it was changed from time to time--so she could take a few medicines to help prevent the killing agents. It was designed to kill slowly, humiliatingly, and painfully. She hoped that she would live...but the purpling scars would stay.
There was silence as they agreed. To break the sick quiet, the announcer used his whip to push the girl's gloves to her. She carefully put them on, trying not to hurt her hands worse.
"Does anyone know her name?" the announcer cried to the crowd, drawing their attention away from the girl.
Another lone voice yelled, "I know who she is!"
The girl's eyes turned on him, the dangerous eyes of a predator. They warned the lone voice, but it was unheeding.
"I’m her cousin! I know who that girl is! It's Priire!" a man yelled with glee.
"Sithspit," the girl cursed under her breath. "I warn you to say no more. The Hawkbat may be gone, but I have my own versions of wrath. If you persist, I will hunt you down like a nerf and tear you limb from limb to protect those I call my friends. They have had enough trouble on my behalf."
The man walked up to the stage. "I think you're lying about the whole thing. You're not the Hawkbat!"
The blonde jerked away from the men holding her and took a few steps. She launched herself into an impressive flip and landed in a crouch in front of the man. Her leg shot out and she kicked his legs out form under him. She stood and put her foot on his throat. "I was the Hawkbat. I am still Dangerous. I will hunt you down uncaring for consequences if you tell more than you have already said." She spat the last word out like a rotten fruit. "Cousin!"
Priire wasn't sure she wanted to go back. The Senshi might have been the only family, but she was afraid. She had accessed the Dreamer and through her gotten to the bugs she had sneakily put in the girl's rooms. She was half-dismayed to fins that they knew. At least she wouldn't have to explain her absence...but that would be easier than facing them now that they knew what she really was. They might not trust her, even though she had taken all that punishment for them without telling who they were or where they were.
Priire sighed. At least there was one place she could go with no questions asked.
