Chapter 3 To Slay An Acklay
Talyeer rocketed over miles of mountainous terrain up to his parents abode. Tucked away high in the granite crags, the Taibur clan’s hut was hidden from all but the best explorers. Dry, gray dust floated behind him as he skimmed over a small plateau. Setting down next to a solid wall of sandstone, he launched his grappling hook to the top of the cliff. He tugged, securing the grapple against the rim of the ledge. Placing his feet solidly onto the wall, he ascended to a small protruding rock. He passed his through the rock, and input a series of memorized codes. Taking his hand out of the hologram, he climbed through his window into his room. He then accessed his armory via retinal scan, DNA check and fingerprint. The vault opened with a hiss and he compiled the armor he had stripped and put the weapons on a rack. When he counted all of his winnings, he had thirty nine sets of armor that fit him, twenty eight assorted weapons, a number of fuel cells for his jetpack and over one thousand credits in standard Concord Dawn electrum plated. That was a pleasant victory over them. They won't mess with me in the future. Talyeer picked out his best sniper rifle, assault rifle and automatic pistol and grabbed a handful of fuel cells and concussion grenades. Well, I'm ready to go. He flew over the mountains and dropped off near the crash site of the zoo freighter. Well, so far so good... no sign of that acklay, yet. Talyeer advanced toward the entrance of the complex with light feet and quick heart. He entered the mouth of the carved out entrance of the lair and noticed scorch marks on the walls of the compound. Eh, that's odd... He continued into the den and saw dried blood of green, blue, red and orange shades dashed along the wall. He heard short, quick steps with a faint clicking echoing after them. Talyeer darted down the corridor and rolled through a passage way and felt something wrong he hit the ground and rolled to the left side of the corridor as spears intertwined where Talyeer just was. Few, that was close. His breath echoed around him, increasing the sense of danger. Suddenly, he heard a bloodcurdling screach right behind him! He twirled around bringing up his sniper for a one shot kill. The acklay towered over him and his finger hit the firing stud, ripping through the acklays foreward bicep, making him tumble over. Talyeer ignited his jetpack and glimpsed a pair of men running up behind the acklay. Next time, I aim for the head.

Chapter 2 The Hunt Begins
Blaster bolts richoched off rocks where Talyeer took off and went wild. Talyeer returned fire with the WESTAR-M5 he salvaged from the child, and struck two kids square in the chest. They collapsed into crumpled heaps while the others took to the sky. In a maddened race, Talyeer swerved through trees and raced to find a canyon where he could hide. He flew for what seemed hours but in reality it was only a few minutes. He glanced at his fuel meters. No fuel! NO! I've got to get there or I don't know what will happen! The jetpacks of the boys behind him slowed down as one by one they dropped from the sky with no fuel. Suddenly Talyeer dropped to the dusty ground with a thump. Ashyeer and three bodygaurds dropped from the sky next to him.Ashyeer held a stun gun to Talyeer's head and whispered,"Sweet dreams, sucker!" Nanoseconds before Ashyeer pulled the trigger, Talyeer rocketed away on the ground a few meters away and jumped up and sniped all three of the gaurds. Ashyeer rolled away, pulling Talyeer up into his sights and fired. Talyeer dodged the flurry of bolts and fired into the space Ashyeer occupied and hoped for the best. Ashyeer rolled into the attack, head on and took the brunt of the blow with his strong back armor. Talyeer jumped over Ashyeer and grabbed his helmet."No! Please! Anything but that! Don't take my armor! Please please please please please please! Kill me if you want! Just don't take my armor!" Ashyeer pleaded."A life debt and the armor and weapons of all the boys I've killed! Oh and the guards lives. Thats all." Talyeer demanded."Ok ok ok! I owe you a life debt, you can have their stuff and and kill the guards. Just don't take my stuff!" Talyeer walked in front of Ashyeer, and kicked him in the stomach. Ashyeer doubled over in pain, spewing out the last two day's rations. Then he collapsed into unconsiousness."You owe me money for fuel, scum." He then looted Ashyeer of his money, fuel cells and weapons. Then he walked over to the gaurds and looted the guards of money, weapons, ammo, fuel cells and armor. He then shot them each in the head once. Talyeer flew back to the scene of the fight and stripped all of the boys of everything. When all was accomplished, he had twenty six weapons and ammo for all of them, thirty nine sets of armor. That's odd, there were twenty boys when we started... He must have called for reinforcements. Oh well, more for me.


To be continued inTo slay an Acklay!

Chapter 1: A New Mandalorian

Talyeer woke up slowly, his head full of memories of the night before. Uj’alayi cake and strong, bitter tihaar filled his head and dances and firelight rallying songs. Taking his time, the protests of his aching back began to cease. Sitting up on his willow grass mat, his ache went away until it was nothing but a dull thrum of pain at the back of his mind. Briskly and in a professional manner, he suited up he recalled what his dad told him last night before he left the ceremony: “This is only the beginning of what you have to do; tomorrow you must face your greatest fear. We both know what that is…” he trailed off. He suited up and but left his weapons behind. I’m only going to the mess hall, he thought, I won’t need them. Unfortunately, he was wrong.He crawled out his window and freefall jumped. Feet above the ground, he activated his jetpack and zoomed over the dense foliage and pondered what was to come in the following hours. As he rocketed down to the Taiban clan’s mess hall, exhaust streaming behind him, he was intercepted by a rival gang of adolescents from his tribe. Not again…He thought silently.
“Well, well, well! Who do we have here?” The obvious ringleader said.
“Oh, go away Ashyeer. I have more important things to do than bicker with you children.” Tayleer said vehemently.
“Such disrespect! Boys I think we should teach this child a lesson!” Ashyeer spat.
The boys surrounding Talyeer took out an assortment of weapons, ranging from old DC-15s, to WESTAR-M5s to DH-15 carbines and many others. Twenty armed kids slowly advanced on Talyeer as his mind was racing. The kid behind me was put there for a reason, if I can do this they don’t stand a chance. And I’ll get some more armor too. Talyeer back-flipped over the child behind him and disabled him with two jabs of his fingers. The kid dropped like a stone and his weapon fell from his hands, right into Talyeer’s! The other adolescents, surprised from the move, started to fire on Talyeer. Luckly, he had taken to the sky before their fingers hit the firing studs.TO BE



CONTINUED NEXT TIME IN…THE HUNT BEGINS!