Tongue of Shadow

[Zanon O'hara]

"Zanon..." A cold voice whispered from the shadows. The lone traveler stopped and looked down the street. He saw nothing, only wisps of fog and smoke as it whipped through the empty street. "Zanon..." The voice repeated and the man took a cautious step backwards as he checked every shadow for the owner of the voice. "I'm coming for you" The voice, as cold as ice and as mysterious and enchanting as a siren's song. But instead of easing the old man's fears, he was filled with dread. He turned tail and bolted down the street. He picked and alley at random and ran down it. He slipped behind a large garbage can and made himself as small as possible. Here in the shadows he thought he was safe from discovery. If he knew what was after him, he would not have been so naive.

"You can't hide from me" Hot breath tickled his ear. He turned his head, but nothing was there. "I am everywhere." This time it came from the other side. He turned to look, but like the first; there was nothing there. Panic seized him and he jumped from his hiding place. A figure at the mouth of the alley caught his attention. Silhouetted against the light of the street beyond, stood a person; hooded and cloaked. The person raised its hand and gesture with a finger and suddenly Zanon was ripped from where he stood and hurtled forward, toward the figure. He landed on the ground at the person's feet and then was picked up by an invisible hand and held in front of the stranger's shadowed face. "Doctor Zanon..." Warm breath washed over his face as the voice whispered.

"I am him" Zanon said as he was pulled closer to the person. The person continued after a moment of silence, “I have a preposition for you, for I have need of your abilities. It is a matter of revenge for the both of us. It has to do with your failed experiment." She paused and pulled him even closer and whispered straight into his ear, "The one called Zereth Lancer."

At the very name Zanon's flinched at the name and pulled his head away. "How do you know of me, about my experiment, and about Lancer?" He asked and then was unceremoniously dumped on the pavement. The strange reached up and slowly pulled its hood back. Zanon closed his eyes and wondered what he would see when he opened them. A man, a monster, Lancer himself, or perhaps some demon let loose by the gods themselves to punish him for all his cruel acts.

He slowly opened his eyes and before him was not what he expected. It was a woman, a beautiful woman-he thought to himself, with dark red hair, luscious lips, and piercing eyes that seemed to bore into his very soul. "I know because Zereth told me". Zanon found himself rising to his feet and starring into the woman's face. "You have my attention. What is your preposition?" The woman smiled, oh such a smile. Zanon felt his old heart flutter. "Perhaps we should go somewhere more comfortable to discuss this."

Without further ado she walked pass Zanon and to a door in the side of the alley, a door that Zanon had not seen there a moment ago. She waved her hand over the door and the sound of durasteel bolts sliding back was heard even by Zanon's old ears. The door slid open and the woman stepped inside and motioned for Zanon to follow. The door lead directly to a flight of stairs. The stairs led into a medium sized room filled with warm orange light from many lamps positioned around the room. In the middle of the room where two coaches, facing each other. A little coffee table sat between the coaches and on top of the table burned many candles.

"Please have a seat, I will be right back." The woman stated and then crossed over to the other side of the room and slipped through a door. Zanon meanwhile was removing his trench coat and hanging it on a hook on the wall. Afterwards, he sat down at one of the couches and awaited his hostess' return.

The Woman emerged from the door, now dressed in a flowing gothic style dress of black and crimson. She moved silently across the richly carpeted floor and sat down across from Zanon. She crossed her legs and leaned back. "You know my name," Zanon started, "But I do not know yours. I like to know who I'm working for." The woman smiled again, "Of course. I am known as Alexia Sturkov, and that is really all you need to know."

Zanon nodded, his messy grey hairs bounced around with the movement. "And what is this preposition of yours?" "It is quite simple, really. I want you to make me an army, an army to crush Lander and his petty band of sith." She stated plainly. Zanon raised his right hand and stroked the scraggly beard that protruded from his chin, something he did when he was thinking. "How much do you know about Lancer?" "Know? I know perhaps more then you." Zanon doubted this, "I know he was your experiment to create the perfect soldier. But you failed and Lancer escaped, destroyed you lab and fled into the real world. He wandered until he came to the sith order, and became even stronger. He rose to the rank of knight and a member of the sith council. He is quite a figure of strength and determination, a role model to apprentices and masters alike. Killing him will be no easy task, but one I believe we can accomplish." She paused and eyed Zanon for a moment before speaking again, "But there is one thing he told me that doesn't hold up to scrutiny." She leaned forward, "He told me he killed you..."

[Zanon O'hara]

A sly smile crossed Zanon's face. "Yes, I did. Or rather, the real me did. Thats the miracle of cloning, something I have a special knack for. I created a clone of myself and here I am the clone. True I am not the true Zanon O'Hara. But I am the exact replica of his body and mind. If it wasn't for the destruction of my laboratory, I'd still be experimenting as my real self did. But with my death came bankruptcy and with my funding cut off I had no credits in which to create a new laboratory. So our first order of business is to construct a proper laboratory." The look on his employer's face was unsatisfactory. "If you take the charge of the laboratory I will take your offer for free. People say revenge is bitter sweet, but I find it to my liking."

[Alexia Sturkov]

Alexia extended her slender arms and reached under the table and withdrew a large metal case from its hiding place. She placed it on the table and slid it across to Zanon. "This should be enough." She said as she watched the twisted old man open the container and marvel at the credits within. "Yes," Zanon said, "It shall be enough to get a greater lab then the one I had before. We shall need to find a large building in which to build our army, Bio tanks take up so much space." A devilish look was clearly visible in the man's dark eyes.

"Very well, we shall begin at once..."

That was six months ago. A half year later Alexia stood in the center of Zanon's new laboratory. To say the room was large was an understatement. It was vast. No building in Coronet was as big. The had to have it specially made and located in the middle of nowhere. The construction company wondered about the location but Alexia wiped their memory after they where finished. Half of the building was filled with large bio tanks. The tanks where filled with a array of chemicals and one could just make out the shape of a human in the middle. The 'good' doctor stood in the center of the building, which he called the 'core'. The core was a slightly raised dais covered in monitors, computers, and other devices. Zanon stood in the middle of all this, punching keys and carefully observing his creations.

A few moments later he stepped down from the core and walked over to Alexia. "There, the experimenting has come to an end. Now we just have to wait until they are finished. It shouldn't take any longer then a month or two."

"Good" Alexia turned to face him," Now you can get to work on their armor and weapons. They need to be finished before the soldiers are." Zanon bowed his head slightly and walked off towards the section of the building he had set aside for the task of making the armaments for his creations, another one of his many talents. Alexia waited till he was gone and then walked over to one of the tanks and laid her hand on the slick glass while peering through the chemicals at Zanon's monstrosity inside. "Don't worry, my pets. You'll soon have your freedom from these tanks and then we shall destroy Zereth and his petty sith... Don't worry my pets..." She paused and smiled "...My force hunters. Your time is coming, soon." She turned and walked away, a triumphant smile spread across her face. "Soon it will be your end, Zereth."

[Alexia Sturkov]

Five months later

It was genius, Zanon told himself. His force hunters were finally finished. The cloned bodies had taken the implants instantly. “It’s a genetic miracle!” He said as he circled around a finished specimen. They stood six and a half feet tall, with pale skin that looked green in places, two large bulbous eyes with slit pupils adorned their faces; these eyes in the dark just as well as in the light. Their nose was small and defined, and their ears where small but pointed at the ends. Sharp fangs filled their mouths and their fingers were adorned with sharp nails. Spiky black hair sprouted from their heads. But the strangest feature was their arms, their arms where longer then normal humanoids. This allowed them a greater range with their weapons.

While Zanon was admiring his own handiwork, Alexia was studying the weaponry and armor that Zanon and a team of Arkanian scientists had created. The Hunters wore a kind of black studded leather armor all over their bodies. It was light yet durable. It allowed them to move freely and could withstand blaster bolts. Their weapons were thick wicked looking blades. The blades were strong enough to withstand contact with a lightsabre for a period of time. Each hunter carried various other weapons of the same material. Some of the hunters wore masks over their faces for added protection. Alexia was about to comment when “Jurak” stepped out of the ranks.

Jurak was one of the few “perfect” specimens that had accepted every implant and modification. They had received better training and where equipped with better weapons. The “perfects’ acted as commanders and let their troops into combat. Jurak, though, was the strongest of the “perfects”. His black armor was the same as the others only it was thicker and spikes protruded through the leather at the shoulders. His mask was held under his arm and Alexia could see his face. A few facial tattoos marked him as one of the perfects and a skull tattoo on his forehead was his person icon, and around his neck hung a necklace with a black skull hanging from it. He stood at seven feet and had a fist the size of Alexia’s head. He was armed with a large blade that only his large size aloud him to wield.

The giant creature glared down at Alexia for a moment before turning to Zanon. They held a hushed conversation and then Jurak returned to his position at the head of the assembly as Zanon hobbled over to Alexia. “Jurak says the hunters are ready.”

“Good, good” Alexia said, “Now, I have a little business to attend to.” She said, looking sideways at Zanon, “I’ll be taking Jurak and his…. men… with me.” She gave him a smile and then turned and walked away before Zanon could protest.