Drex Nile

An extremely long time ago, in a galaxy tremendously far away from ours...

Fifteen years ago, while Drex was a young, thieving pilot, desperately trying to make a living for himself on the planetary city-system of Coruscant, he found his hands soaked in blood.

Gambling was a way of life in his part of the city, and he was horrible at it. So he inevitably found himself being buried alive in a pit he could not climb out of.

Keera Kota, a ruthless trafficker who ruled the planet's underworld with an iron fist, had ordered the kidnapping of Drex’s mother and sister after finding out from a loyal source that Drex Nile had been skimming credits for himself on each job.

With no solid plan in mind, save for rescuing his mother and sister at all cost, he willingly entered Kota's palace, praying his ruse held fast.

Kota had a sick mind, and became obsessed with getting her paws on a young, force sensitive child. She desired to consume the blood of a force sensitive child, because she believed that was the purest way to acquire the unimaginable skills of the Jedi. She was not born force sensitive, which is what drove her lust for power into sheer madness.

Drex bet Keera that he could deliver her a force-sensitive child, in exchange for the safe return of his mother and sister. Kota was reluctant at first but ended up succumbing to her twisted desires. She promised Drex that if he brought her a live, unharmed, force-sensitive child, then she would indeed free his mother and sister.

With the expensive help of a bounty hunter, Drex had found the secret location of a force-sensitive child staging compound, under the control of the Jedi. He infiltrated the facility through a busted sewage pipe which flowed out into a secluded lake, near a field of droid run power-coupling stations. He stealthily conducted his search of the entire complex, but found no children, no droids and no Jedi. The place was abandoned.

Unable to return empty handed, Drex tricked one of the homeless boys he would sometimes cheaply employ to help him in his heists, into joining his coup. He promised the boy a kyber crystal, which he could use to buy a ship and get off-world. In exchange, he would simply have to pretend to be a force sensitive child, and willingly surrender to Keera Kota. Drex had ended the bargain with the promise that a Jedi Knight would help free him once the transaction was complete. Between a kyber crystal and the help of the Jedi, the young boy offered up his service.

Keera Kota’s empire thrived beneath the chaos of life above ground. Her imperious palace of broken bones, and stolen treasures struck fear in the hearts of all who endured its presence. Drex entered the palace through the heavily armed entrance with the young boy in tow. They were led into the grand throne room, where Kota was lounging like the queen she was, bathing in her enormous gold, and copper tub.

Her maple skin glistened through the billowing steam rising from the roiling surface of the hot water. Keera was a seven-foot tall humanoid with razor sharp spikes protruding from scarred wounds across her body. Her transformation had come later in life, and against her will. She was brutally tortured into the beast she had become.

Drex patiently waited his turn to be heard while a rival trafficker offered tribute to Kota. The short man offered six cases of thermal dynamite in exchange for his life. She had accepted the offering, but not without cost. She had one of the man’s arms forcefully removed by her pet wookie. Once the man and his arm were removed from the throne room, Drex reluctantly stepped forward. He presented Kota with the force-sensitive child he had promised her, “Queen Kota. I have brought you what you desire most. The power to wield the universe.”

Keera grunted from her perch, then began to slowly rise from the hot waters. The liquid dripped down her dark skin, and trickled to the floor from the sharp points of the spikes. She was truly magnificent and horrid at the same time. She lifted her long legs out from the pool, and proceeded to strut down the stairs of her throne to face Drex and the child.

Drex had to crane his neck upwards to make eye contact with her. She paced back and forth, grinding her blunt teeth together, and fingering the crusted spikes on her face. She stood naked, commanding the room with fearful authority. She finally stopped her pacing and spoke, “Are you going to tell him, or should I?”

The room fell quiet under a state of confusion. Drex was especially confused, as his head panned left to right, trying to make sense of who Kota was talking to.

The young boy Drex had come in with, suddenly stepped forward and stood next to the wet woman. The boy then turned back to Drex, and muttered out five words, “You’re a fool, Drex Nile.”

Keera Kota raised her right hand, and placed it firmly on the traitorous boy’s shoulder, then turned her head to speak directly to Drex, “You forget who I am, Mr. Nile. You forget my influence. You forget my resourcefulness. You forget my dexterity. You forget my ruthlessness.”

Drex remained speechless as he took inventory of the rapidly unfolding situation. He had been horribly tricked by Kota into thinking he could swindle her.

“You forget me, Mr. Nile. I do not need, nor no longer desire the power of the Jedi. With the help of some friends, I have recently discovered a similar, yet far more unique and potent power. Something darker.”

Keera began baring her crooked teeth as she expressed a sinister smile of victory, “Do you understand now, Mr. Nile? There were never any force-sensitive children. The bounty hunter who provided you with the location of the staging compound is one of my most trusted and loyal advisors. I sent you there to fail. Then, once I knew you could not return to me empty handed, I paid this young boy a handsome reward to opportunistically cross your path, and agree to any coup, we both knew, you would devise against me.”

“You’re a fool, Drex Nile,” blurted out the traitorous boy, once again.

This outburst interrupted and annoyed Kota to the point of disgust, so she ordered one of her bodyguards to remove the boy’s tongue. She would not tolerate insolence, especially during her sweet moments of victory. The boy was immediately apprehended, and taken into a torture chamber, where is tongueless cries reverberated off of the walls of the throne room.

“You forget me, Mr. Nile,” slithered Kota. “You must now be punished.”

The Queen stomped her massive feet and howled out like some savage beast, “Bring me the prisoners!”

Kota’s two largest, and most gruesome looking guards entered the same torture chamber the young boy was brought into. Moments later, they returned with Koto’s pet Wookie and two prisoners who were chained, beaten and gagged. Drex instantly recognized the poor souls as his mother and younger sister. His mother was only thirty-nine and his sister was thirteen, two years behind Drex; and they were the only family he had left. Drex made no sudden moves because he feared that any further insolence would cause them more harm.

The grim procession ended at the feet of Kota’s throne. Drex’s eyes locked with both his mother’s and sister’s as they shared final moments of regret, fear, love and hope. The room was inescapably quiet, minus the heavy pounding of Drex’s heart inside of his chest.

Breaking the silence with a commanding whisper, Keera spoke out, “Tell me, Mr. Nile. How shall it be done? Death by Wookie? Carbonate freezing? Perhaps drowning or beheading? I am open to all suggestions.”

Ignoring the deformed monster’s antics, Drex, with cold tears streaming down his face, maneuvered himself with impossible speed to the rear of one of the armed guards that flanked him, and plucked the three thermal detonators dangling from the guard’s belt. Using an unseen force, Drex snapped the guard’s neck.

The body fell at his feet, and he then held the room hostage with the threat of blowing up the entire palace.

Keera bellowed out a sharp laugh, and tears of excitement escaped from the corners of her black eyes, “Death by Wookie it is!”

Without thinking, Kota’s pet Wookie stepped behind Drex’s mother, clasped its furry paws to her wrists, then yanked them clean from her torso. Before Drex was able to shed a tear, the murderous Wookie stepped behind his sister, and repeated the savage act. Drex’s lungs finally gave way, and he let out a crippling cry of agony. The air around him suddenly began to singe, and the earth beneath his feet began to quake.

With nothing left to lose, he tossed the detonators across the throne room, landing them directly on top of the cases of thermal dynamite left behind by the trafficker. As everyone in the room made sense of what was about to happen, they each made failed attempts to escape the blast zone. Drex sprang forward with all of the speed he could muster, and found himself leaping through the air, landing in the now luke-warm water of Kota’s tub-throne.

The explosion was searing, and powerful enough to bring the entire palace down onto itself, crushing Keera and all of her exposed bodyguards, killing everyone.

Drex, being small and nimble, was able to shimmy his way through one of the wide drains connected to Keera’s throne-tub, which broke open during the explosion. He escaped down into the maze-like sewer systems, where he became lost for the next five days.

Eventually a maintenance droid, doing a routine sweep of the sewage lines, found his barely breathing body floating down stream just before it expired for the final time. He was brought to a nearby medical facility, where for two weeks, he recovered from his wounds which had turned septic, as well as his lack of nutrients from the toxic inhalation of fecal matter.

Since that day, Drex had been on the run, constantly looking over his shoulder. Revenge was commonplace throughout the galaxy, and he had killed someone of great, underworld importance.

It became crucial for him to always remain ready to confront his past in case it ever decided to enter his orbit.