Forisk was outside in his overgrown backyard, staring out at his gardens, blissfully unaware of the fate creeping up on him.
The birds were chirping.
The sun was shining.
The wind calmly blowing.
He closed his eyes.
"After all these years...They finally found me."
Rax stopped his advance, boots squaring themselves along the wooden patio surface, his blaster pistol held out waist-level toward the back of the Major's head. He narrowed his eyes.
"It wasn't hard. You always talked about this place."
"Did I? To whom in particular?" The old Major's Kaasian voice was weary, tired. There was no fight left in this man.
"Everyone. Your aides. Your lieutenants..."
"Hmmm...." That very specific reveal intrigued him. The man whirled his hoverchair around slowly, deliberately as to not upset the hunter's killer instincts. He wanted to look upon his captor, "You made one such lieutenant squeal? Made him give up my location, did you?"
Forisk looked so fragile in this state. Stumps were present where his legs would have been; he never did opt to have cybernetic replacements. His physique had atrophied, his hair was showing signs of greying along the temples, though he was relatively young compared to most senior officers.
"Here I was expecting a more brutish alien."
"No, sir. Just a human like you," Tex tried not to cringe as he spoke. This being was anything but human. Not after that day, "And I didn't have to force anyone to talk. You'd talk of this place even during liberty briefings. You wouldn't shut up about it some days and we had to suffer through it. You took leave here while we fought your battles..."
The old Major closed his eyes, finally understanding, the humor of the realization not lost on him.
"A disgruntled war fighter. What a cruel irony. Still, it doesn't quite answer the question does it?"
The hat shook side to side, "No more talking. You're coming with me."
"You think I'm stalling? For what? There are no Imperials here. No cameras, no monitors, no backup. We are alone out here." He hovered closer, slowly and carefully, "It is just you...and me."
Tex blinked, unseen from under the brim of his hat. It was true - during his preliminary stake-out of the residence, there were no obvious or concealed signs of security, internal or external. This was as simple as things got.
"Come now, son. Fifteen years weren't bad. Another ten minutes won't hurt."
Rax's grip on the GR-9 tightened, "You believe you have a choice in this matter?"
"I don't believe I do, no. But you do."
There was an awkward silence following that.
"Take a seat. Go ahead. No tricks here." Forisk motioned slowly to an ebony-wooden chair, just out of Rax's peripheral. The hunter slowly, curiously looked over to it for the briefest of seconds before eyes were back on the hoverchair-bound Major. Every breath was tense. Every movement calculated. The hunter soon found himself side-stepping closer to the chair, wooden floorboards thudding hollow, creaking with every heavy boot step. He sat down, muzzle still trained on the man.
"Tea?"
Rax's mouth contorted in disgust at the offer as the man hovered closer, beginning to pour a cup.
"I suppose not. You don't seem the type."
"What are you playing at? If I have to drag you out of that thing--"
"You'll do no such thing. I believe the Slorvoans want me alive."
"Alive, not unharmed."
Forisk blew the steam from his tea and took a sip.
"Marines, then? Certainly the shoot-first type, aren't you?"
Rax made no acknowledgement either way.
"You were there, weren't you?"
He took another sip to Rax's silence.
"Why wait this long?"
"What?"
Forisk looked right at him before repeating.
"Why. Wait. This long?"
Tex didn't respond, merely looking uncomfortably confused by the question.
"Hello, Marine. Are you listening? You could have prevented this. You are just as implicated as I in this matter."
"Nerf-shit."
"Nerf-shit, indeed. Some moral fortitude you had displayed. You could have stopped that massacre from happening." Forisk scoffed sarcastically.
"You and I both know the answer to that. The Sith don't recognize your actions that day as being criminal during war. To them, that's a regular day at the office."
"That makes it right, then?"
"It makes it legal under their rule."
"Laws can be interpreted one way or the other, dear boy. Please, answer the questio--"
"No, it wasn't right." Tex's gloved grip audibly tightened on the blaster as he snapped back. "Neither could I have done anything then. A conscripted Lance - at the time - Corporal's word over an officer's. They would have put me against a firing squad if I said no..."
The Major continued sipping his tea, "A shame that was not the case. You would not be here if it were. It does tell me you lack conviction. You didn't care about those people any more than the Marine next to you."
Tex had it up to his neck at this point. He began to stand up again, this time outstretching his shooting hand.
"Enough. I don't want to hear any more about it. End of discussion, you're coming with me."
"Would you have changed those circumstances, if you had the power?"
"I said no more." The hunter prepared an electro-dart.
"If we did not take that position, if we did not clear that village, the invasion would have been a failure. You would have costed the Empire thousands of lives. I made that tactical decision so you're ungrateful, bloody arse could live."
Rax hesitated. Why was he hesitating? Why was he not shooting this guy?
"The hell are you talking about? What difference would that have made?"
"All the difference. We weren't just fighting the Republic that day."
"No, of course not, we were also 'fighting' innocent civilians."
"Don't be so naive. That village was in possession of a certain beacon, belonging to a certain kind of spy. A spy for an organization we've yet to encounter."
Rax was growing past 'fed up'. The Major drank the last of his tea.
"No wonder you're out here alone. The Empire has no need to look after crazy fools."
"Visit the village's ruins. The ruins you and the others burned down that day. You will discover the truth."
"Nothing is there anymore. Only the shallow grave where we torched the corpses. Men, women, children--"
"You're not looking hard enough."
"Okay, that's it. Dragging time."
Before Rax can press the manual trigger of his wrist bracer's dart gun, there was a vibration in the air. The noise of an engine of some kind fast approaching. It was unlike any kind of repulsor-based engine he'd heard. Forisk looked around, confused. Rax followed.
"We are not alone."
Rax's first thought was immediately drawn to 'competitors'. The next was him getting behind the hover-chair to push the old man away. The object flew close overhead. Tex didn't have a clear look at it. Instead, he continued pushing the Major out through the house.
As they came out the front, Rax had a view as it circled around. It was heading towards them again on another pass. No design he was ever familiar of. Like a spinning shield of some kind...
He didn't take it seriously until it opened fire....
