Webs Betwixt Stars 6 (Patreon)

As MJ and Gwen were bringing the Fury in for a landing, I was parsing through the additional missions on offer while enjoying a mug of space-coffee. It was just as the landing struts touched down that I read a mission that made me choke on my drink.

Who Wants to Live Forever?
Scope: Quick
Location: Any
Objective: Send Darth Vader a sextape of yourself with Padme Amidala
Condition: Padme must denigrate her husband loudly and vocally during the recording
Reward: 50 Company Credits, 1 rank each Information Defense, Trace Defense

The fuck? I was getting a hell of a kick out of making Padme enjoy me more than her husband, but I wasn’t suicidal! No way was I going to be accepting that. A shudder ran down my spine, yeah, I was power hungry, not stupid. Well, not that stupid.

Setting that Suicide With Extra Steps Mission aside, I checked through the others on offer. I wanted to get at least one I could finish on Dantooine, and get my debt down as much as possible before the thirty day mark hit me with the interest. I was going to receive a lot of interest, the Star Wars galaxy was just too big for me to get all the potential captures and missions fast enough to avoid that. After another minute, I found a couple missions that could work.

Who's A Good Boy?
Scope: Quick
Location: Dantooine
Objective: Restrain a kath hound alpha and escape from the pack unharmed
Condition: Do not harm the kath hound in the process
Reward: 5 Company Credits, Kath Hound Alpha as a familiar

All That Glimmers
Scope: Quick
Location: Dantooine
Objective: Harvest 15 kyber crystals suitable for use in lightsabers from the Crystal Caves
Bonus Objective: Find a personal crystal
Condition: Do so without killing any kinrath
Reward: 10 Company Credits, complete copy of Professor Huyang’s Technical Manual on lightsaber construction
Bonus Reward: 5 Company Credits, holocron containing basic instruction on Forms I-VII

Both missions seemed simple enough, so I accepted them as Gwen and MJ came out of the cockpit to the main area. I stood, stretching and rolling my neck. Gwen and MJ stood in front of me, as Padme came out of the bedroom, a bit unsteady on her feet from how much sex we’d had in the last day since she’d been confirmed captured.

“Right,” I said as I clapped my hands. “Gwen, you’ll be planetside with me. MJ, you will be taking the ship up into orbit once we’ve got some information on the local threats. I don’t know what the local situation is like, so I’d like you and Padme out of the potential danger zone. When Gwen and I have finished, or it gets too late to continue, we’ll give you a ring for a pickup.”

Orders given, Gwen and I made our way down the loading ramp, taking our first breath of the Dantooine air. The wind smelled sweetly, the grassy plains of the agriworld almost felt like home to me. We made our way across the grasslands towards the small village nearby, and entered a tavern. As soon as we did, a droid came over.

“Welcome to the Wild Rover,” he said.

“We're looking for some information,” I said. “We're something of history enthusiasts and spelunkers, and heard that there were some caves nearby, along with the site of an ancient Jedi enclave.”

“That would be true,” he replied. “There are indeed caves around here, though they are not very easy to find.” He pointed at the building behind him. “In fact, if you want to see the caves, you should come back tomorrow morning, after the farmers have harvested their crops and brought them in.”

I nodded and thanked the droid before asking, “Any troubles lately? I'd rather not got to sleep and wake up to find a blaster in my face from an ornery brigand or something.”

The droid chuckled, “You needn't worry about that. There haven't been any problems recently. If there were, we wouldn't still be open.”

I nodded with a grin, sending a few credits the droids way as Gwen and I headed back to the ship. That was good to hear. I didn't fancy being ambushed while I slept. I made sure the door was locked and secured, then went inside the ship. I fixed us dinner, then sat down next to Gwen and cuddled up to her. She purred softly as I kissed her. It wasn't long before I fell asleep.

[hr][/hr]

I awoke early the next morning, feeling refreshed. I stretched, then yawned as I looked at Gwen. Her eyes opened slowly, blinking sleepily as she saw me awake. She smiled warmly.

“Good morning, handsome,” she whispered.

“Morning yourself,” I replied. “What time is it?”

She shrugged slightly, then reached under the sheets and started rubbing herself against me. “I guess about seven?”

I smirked, “Let's go get breakfast. Playtime can wait until we’ve finished here.”

“Sounds good,” she agreed. “Come on.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me out of bed, leading me towards the ship's kitchen. I followed her eagerly. After making breakfast, we ate, and I took a shower. Afterwards, we left the ship, locking everything down as Padme walked onto the main deck. I was surprised when she spoke.

“So, what now?” she asked.

“Now?” I repeated, turning to look at her. “Well, Gwen and I will be exploring the caves today, and if we find enough crystals to satisfy my sponsors, then we'll wrap up by grabbing us a kath hound.”

Her eyes widened, “What do you want a kath hound for?”

“My patrons are interested in one, so I'm getting them one, simple as that,” I answered with a shrug.

Padme frowned slightly, but then sighed, “All right. I suppose you'll be able to handle a kath hound.”

I grinned, deciding to leave the fact that we’d be bringing home an alpha a surprise for her. It was more amusing for me that way. We got directions towards the caves from the droid in the cantina, before renting a speeder and heading out. Just our luck, we ran into a pack of kath hounds while en route. I gave another grin, spotting the horned target leading the pack.

“Take the wheel, Gwen,” I ordered before jumping up out of the driver’s seat.

I flew through the air, the momentary feeling of weightlessness like a drug, before I refocused and threw an arm out. With the iconic ‘thwip’ sound, a line of web shot out from my web shooter, landing on the kath hound’s back. It let out a confused, “Aroo?” sound before I pulled as hard as I could. The kath hound was yanked from its feet, letting out panicked and confused giant dog noises before I caught it.

For a critter that probably out massed me three fold, it was surprisingly light. Before it could react, I grabbed the web line and quickly hogtied its legs together, using more webbing just to err on the side of caution. Running over to the speeder, which Gwen had idling, I tossed the kath hound into the back and hopped into the passenger’s seat. Gwen punched the throttle, and we were off, leaving the pack in our dust as they tried to chase after us.

Once we were far enough away, I untied the kath hound from its restraints and removed the gag. The kath hound immediately began barking excitedly, wagging its stubby tail and sniffing around. Once I had it calmed down, I turned to Gwen. “It seems we now have a dog, any suggestions for names?”

Gwen grinned, “I think he should be called ‘Barky’.”

I laughed, “We'll add that to the list, but let's see what Padme has to suggest when we get back before making any decisions.”

I pulled out my phone as Gwen drove, and our new dog sat in the back seat. Checking the mission tab, I grinned upon seeing the successful mission, though given the behavior of the hound in the back seat that was fairly obvious. Ten more Company Credits, for a total of nineteen. I considered my options for a moment, I could save them for a bigger purchase, but we’d been in the Star Wars universe for eleven days, and my debt would increase once that number hit thirty. But I still needed to be able to find the Star Maps used to lead to the Star Forge…

With a sigh, I purchased the Mapper perk and put the remaining nine points towards paying off the loan, bringing my current total to four hundred eighty six Company Credits. I could have bought more Defenses, but I hated being in debt. I’d managed to go nearly the entirety of my adult life without taking out loans, and that had an impact on me.

Pushing that aside, we soon came to a series of hills and cliffs, which could only be the crystal caves. I took a deep breath, I could feel the vibrations running through the threads of the Force, the touches and movement of life within the caves.

Turning to the several hundred pound alien canine, I held a hand out towards it and said, “Stay.”

“What’s the matter?” Gwen asked as she and I got out of the speeder.

“Mission parameters said not to kill any of the bugs inside the caves, I’d rather not try to keep him under control during a fight so soon,” I explained. “We should be fine without him, and he can guard the speeder.”

Gwen chuckled, and the two of us made out way inside the caves. The tunnels were dark and gloomy, but with my and Gwen’s enhanced vision, I easily navigated the twists and turns. After a few minutes, the tunnel opened up onto a large cavern. In front of us were rows upon rows of crystals, each one glowing brightly, as well as the occasional bug crawling across or flying between them.

“I kinda thought the bugs would be bigger,” I muttered under my breath.

“Are you complaining?” Gwen snarked, making me chuckle.

“Not in the least, let’s get started. I’d say to reach out with the Force, but…” I trailed off, blinking as a thought hit me. “Actually, Venom, come over here for a moment.”

A black ooze lurched out of Gwen’s shoulder, triangular white eyes and a fang filled mouth being the only distinguishing features, and asked, “Why?”

“You can duplicate the abilities of your previous hosts, come over to me, just long enough to get Force Sensitivity, then you can go back to Gwen,” I explained, holding an arm out.

The symbiote hesitated, before Gwen smiled and said, “It’s okay buddy, you’ll be fine.”

“Fine,” Venom said, almost seeming to pout.

The feeling of having the alien symbiote sink into my body was… well, the English language lacks the words to properly convey it, but suffice to say: it was fucking weird. The fact that it had the side effect of leaving Gwen completely naked was merely a happy accident, honestly.

Closing my eyes, I reached out with the Force, strumming the web of connections around me, feeling for the ripples and echoes of the crystals around us. Keeping my eyes closed, I followed the flow of energy until they led me to the center of the room, where a single crystal stood out among all the others. A single tap and I felt the connection snap into place, and I could sense the power within.

Opening my eyes again, I looked at the crystal, and felt it pulse in time with my heartbeat. I tapped it once more, and the glow within increased by a small amount, pulsing along with my own heart. Then I closed my eyes, focusing on what I wanted to do, and reaching out with the Force to draw from the energies of the crystal. I focused hard, pushing against the rock the crystal grew from, and using the Force to push against it, growing a hole in the rock beneath the crystal.

After a moment longer, the crystal fell into my outstretched hand. I held it up, looking deep into it, before forcing myself back to the present. Shaking my head, I slipped the crystal into a pouch.

“Ya get all that, Venom?” I asked.

I get a sense of affirmation, and with a nod, walked over to Gwen before pulling the naked blonde into a searing kiss. Gwen returned it without hesitation, and I could feel Venom moving back to her as we made out, the symbiote forming clothes over her tight, toned body. We eventually broke apart for air, breathing heavily.

“Once we get back to the ship,” I muttered, “I am going to fuck you so hard the sound proofing won’t be enough.”

“Promises,” Gwen said with a cheeky and eager smile.

With Venom now granting Gwen second-hand Force Sensitivity, we found the needed crystals in short order. Once we did though, all of them except for that initial one that resonated with me disappeared, replaced by five datapads and a small, ornately decorated cube. A check of my phone showed that the credit rewards had come through as well. Grinning, we headed out of the caves to head to the Star Map. But I did have one question…

“I wonder where the kinraths were, I’d heard that they infested the caves,” I wondered aloud as we walked into the sunlight.

Only to pause, seeing the cold, piercing gaze of a woman I recognized, but hadn’t expected to see here on Dantooine. I swallowed the lump in my throat, seeing her lightsabers, off but already in her hands, as she scratched my kath hound’s chin. Well, that explained why Gwen and I didn’t have to deal with kinraths.