Nar Shaddaa

Zeno comes to with pain but also a strange sensation of being bound. His injuries have been seen to and two women, one has seen before and an older nikto woman are arguing in Huttese.

The nikto woman says, “He is Sith, leave him for the scavengers.” She wears loose fitting leather armor stitched together from creatures of the swamp and the her partner is the woman he met early on Nal Hutta.

“I detest Sith as much as the next sister, but I will not leave him to die,” Kaya says before noticing the Sith lord come to.

They are upside down to Zeno… and then he notices he is hanging by his feet from a tree, minus his weapons.

"I'm not dead," he says, stating the obvious. Regardless of the tending to his injuries, it still hurts like hell, which becomes obvious from his flinching.

"You," he directs at the green skinned woman. He doesn't say anything else, reaching out to her with the force as best he can, but he just can't get anything.

D8 EA, Sense: 1eF 1 Light Side

"Lord Zeno, we meet again. Why were you trying to kill my pet?" she asks calmly.

"I wasn't trying to kill it, I was trying to capture it," he says with an intense look. "And because I relish a challenge and someone invited me on a hunt. It seems it didn't kill me. So you stole it's kill and it's meal? You should treat your pets better."

“I treat her quite well, she wasn’t hungry just defensive. She does not like strangers in her nesting grounds, already lost one of her children,” the woman counters.

“Typical, just here for the rush.”

"Pretty much," he says with devious smirk. "I was using a weapon I wasn't trained with. I guess next time I go after your pet I'll have to use my sabers."

“If it is her time to return to the Force then so be it, but not today. She has lived a good life,” the woman counters.

The nikto woman says, “Gut him and be done with it.”

“He is wounded and under my care, another time perhaps, sister.” She focuses on Zeno, “We have no quarrel with you, though I suspect that matters little to a Sith.”

"Matters little to a Sith or a Jedi. Both sides are happy to murder one another," he states flatly.

He then smiles at the nikto. "And if you want to gut me, do it yourself nikto. Don't make your sister do what you want to do. You want to do it, then do it. Stop being a coward. Kill me and be done with it or release me. I have no quarrel with you either."

"By the way. Did you pet drag back a twi'lek and a human as well? I'm curious as to what happened. Clearly they didn't finish it."

"I believe they must have fled." Kaya then motions for the nikto and says, "Return to the others, I will follow shortly. Go."

The woman focuses on Zeno and adds, "I do not know if you wish to live or die, Sith. I offer you life, as you have aided the downtrodden here."

"Sending your sister away? Scared she might follow through?" he says with a chuckle, and then a grimace from the pain. "I'm not sure if I wish to live or die yet either. Clearly I have weakness that needs to be purged, but my failure should have been my death. That's the way of the galaxy. Maybe give me another round with your pet and see if I survive that?"

“I am pretty sure that law is not absolute, and I am not afraid for her. She is disciplined. I fear for you, your anger and warped views do you no credit,” she says with a sigh.

“Perhaps you shall find an end here on Nal Hutta, but it will not be my doing.”

She points to bundle of crude cloth, “There is food and ample fresh water and you weapons. Find your way home Sith. I have no delusions that this will change you, but I have my ways and you have yours.”

"So that's what you do? You hang out in the wilds here and coddle the weak?" he asks. "And yes, I include myself with that. You're doing nobody any favors. You just get off on them worshiping you or something?"

"I am pledged to aid others, even those that may do me harm later," she says respectfully.

"If that bothers you, well I cannot fix that."

He shakes his head. "Help the weak inherit the galaxy. That way they can allow everything to go to ruin."

"Your definition of weak is pretty narrow and now includes yourself by your own admission," she says offering him some water.

"I've failed. I have weakness. Your aid has only emphasized it," he replies taking a drink. "And I must remove it."

He looks around at the wilds. "This place may be as good as any to do so."

"I find it hard to believe that every Sith takes their life after a single failure," she says removing the water from his lips.

"It's not about taking my life. It's about overcoming my weakness and failure. I cannot be the man I wish to be until I can meet my own standards," he says. "And they're pretty high."

"So until now in your life you have never failed?" she says with a incredulous chuckle.

"Until now in my life I haven't been rescued," he says with a shake of his head. "I've been near fatally killed, but always had the strength to find my own way home. Losing to your pet isn't as much as a failure of needing to be saved."

“No one is invincible and no one gets through this universe without aid Sith, you do what you want. If your honor demands you take your life then so be it. Failure happens and no one is infallible,” she says with a shake of her head.

“May the Force be with you.”

She departs leaving him hanging for a few minutes before the branch gives way and he crashes to the swamp floor in the mud and muck.

Untangling himself from the ropes he climbs to his feet. Moving to his gear he looks it over and starts packing everything on. He pulls out his sabers and ignites them, initially just because he wishes to make sure they haven't been tampered with. But once they're on he just feels anger welling inside. The tree he had been hanging from goes down as he cuts through it.

"Dammit." He scowls at the tree and turns on his comm, to contact Aphr. "I'm alive." The comlink then turns off.

After a bit of staring at the dead tree, he hits himself with two more stims and starts the long trek back to civilization.

OOC: 2 stims used for 4 then 3 respectively

Wounds: 4/12 from 11/12