[fic] SW: Return From Exile

[machievelli]

Communication.

 

There was a checkpoint at the shuttle, and they were searching for weapons. If you had a star port visa, they left you alone, but the average citizen wasn’t allowed anything more dangerous than an eating knife. I watched this, and my disquiet grew.

 

“What is the matter?” The Handmaiden asked me as the shuttle shot down the track toward the Merchant‘s quarter.

 

“What Vaklu is doing.” I said. “A government can be the greatest strength of a people, but it can be their worst enemy as well. You have to give up so much of your freedom when you accept your leaders, and they can take more if you are not careful.”

 

“The definition of reasonable anarchy, is that I can swing my fist as much as I like as long as I don’t hit you with it.” Mandalore said. Marai chuckled. After a moment, I understood it, and joined her.

 

“Yes, but most people are not reasonable. A criminal in a just society is someone who feels his right to do what he wishes is more important than what others feel. But in a just society, everything must flow smoothly, or there is more disquiet than normal.”

 

“More?”

 

“All right my sister. Beginning Government from the Jedi point of view. Every society, no matter how peaceful or benign it is has it’s rogues. Laws are supposed to be the expressed will of the people or at least the majority of them, but when you go from true democracy, every person having the right to vote to a representative form, you immediately start to have problems. A man can represent a group, say a few score, but what happens when you try to represent several thousand? Suddenly you are no longer speaking for all of them, you are merely speaking for the ones that shout the loudest, or are willing to give you gifts. Maybe less than a hundredth of the people you claim to speak for.

 

“Then you take a few dozen or few hundred of these, and they work together, creating factions and parties. They now create agendas to attract the voters, to bend the society not to the will of the people, but to the will of whatever their party wishes. But those agendas are not clear cut, because you have too many you are trying to attract. There are basic things you will all agree with, but to drive the party along, you have to accept those you would not wish to be there, and they will espouse the party line even if they lie to do so.”

 

“So now you have thousands that speak as their faction wants them to, but believes something else entirely.” I said.

 

“Exactly. When it comes to the higher offices, your faction chooses people to represent them, and those people are again compromises. Not the best man, but the most acceptable. By the time you get to the upper level, ministers, Parliamentary seats, you have made so many compromises that you don’t really know where the man stands. He is just the one that is the most homogenous to the onlooker. It is like trying to run a government by making it a beauty contest.”

 

“But the best-”

 

“The best usually don’t reach that point.” Mandalore said. He looked at the Handmaiden. “Would you decide that every left handed man with red hair, without freckles, between a meter four and a meter six must automatically be evil because it will gain you acceptance?”

 

“Of course not!” The Handmaiden answered, shocked.

 

“Yet on a fundamental level that is what you must do to even reach the upper echelons of a party, and it is them, not the voter, who chooses which of them is put forward for those seats. It is as if you have only the flavors of ice cream someone else has chosen, and they dun it into you from the start that to stand away from the party will give the other side the victory, and everyone knows how evil they are!”

 

“Are they evil?”

 

“Unless your definition means they must agree with you on everything no matter how stupid, then of course not.”

 

“Even putting tight controls or no control helps in the end.” I told her. “Coriandis created a series of tests that you must take to show your knowledge of the subject when applying for government office from the lowest waste disposal foreman to the president. Every election is more competitive examinations. Yet they are a mess because the tests have changed only incrementally in four millennia. “

 

“They are taking tests four thousand years old? Who is supposed to be creating these tests?”

 

“Professors. But most professors of social sciences get to their positions in universities by espousing whatever their teacher taught them, no matter how bizarre or stupid it might be. When they wish to change a test, you have representatives meet-”

 

“Ah, I see.” She said. “So that factor of speaking for the loud or the generous steps in again.”

 

“Exactly.” I nodded. “Mriabelo is worse.”

 

Mandalore laughed. “Yeah. Election by lottery. Every citizen above the age of consent pays into a fund, and buys a chance. Once every three years they have a lottery, and the winners become the president and cabinet, then they have another for junior ministers and House seats, then another on and on until all seats are filled. The fund is used to pay for the government.”

 

“That sounds bizarre. How does anyone get anything done?”

 

“Who says they do?” Marai asked. “Less government, not more is a national motto. But there is no rule that you can have only one chance at it. The rich can buy thousands of chances, and Corporations will buy more to give to those they deem worthy. Worse yet, the lotteries are done by computer and any computer can be sliced.”

 

Mandalore laughed. We looked at him until the laughter died down. “Remember the election fifteen years ago, right before the War officially began?”

 

I nodded smiling. “A man who detested the way elections were held inserted names of children, some of them as young as seven. Then he weighted the chances so that those children held a few thousand markers each. The lottery came up, and the cabinet had two adults in the lower seats, and the president was an eleven year old boy.”

 

She shook her head. “That must have changed the system.”

 

“No. They just brought in programmers, and closed the system so it couldn’t be sliced from the outside. The fact that the man that had done it originally had been head programmer was conveniently ignored.”

 

The Handmaiden looked at me as if she expected I was teasing her. “What happened with the children. Surely the older people-“ I laughed.

 

“Picture someone with the mind of a child who knows that his word is law. No one is worse when it comes to making decisions because they can do everything they want.“

 

“So what of what is happening here and now?”

 

“As I said, a government can be the greatest strength or your mortal enemy. I am sure that if I looked back to before the Queen ascended the throne, a lot of the restrictions we see now were already there, but weren’t enforced. All they needed to do was enforce them to the letter. They searched the common people for weapons, but those of us from other worlds were left alone. That suggests a comprehensive control of weapons. But does a criminal turn in his weapons when the law he despises demands it? Of course not. The honest people do, but when they find they are now defenseless, some of them decide that they have the right to defend themselves, and so are labeled as criminal.

 

“Rising crimes means the people cry out for more police, more laws, stricter laws. So the government gives them that. The people of that cantonment over there are all bad people, you know it because you have been taught that, so they pass laws that stop those people from coming to your neighborhoods, and that slows commerce, because not everyone there is truly evil. Some of the things you need desperately might be made or grown there or might have to pass through there so you have a lack or serious slow down of necessary services.

 

“Then there is the news. When the press is completely free, you have pictures of dead bodies in all their bloody glory shoved into your faces, so you already have restrictions on them so a press that is honest and not too flamboyant is what you settle for. But if you tweak it even more, you have the government deciding what they can tell you, and eventually telling them what to say. People always say, ’I wish people would not do this’ and when they are heard you get censorship but none of these people ever say ‘I hate when I do this, and i wish they‘d stop me. It is always something another person does.

 

“But everyone has such things they do not like and when enough are heard, it is easier to deny than allow. So the news becomes pabulum fit for a child.

 

“This is about as bad is it can get without actually trying to make it worse. But then you see that you can make it worse. You create more restrictions on movement, you make it difficult if not impossible for them to go from place to place, so if you cannot find work, you are unable to even move to where it is. And if moving off planet is your answer, they restrict it too. Make the checkpoints that were supposed to merely block people harsher. Now they search of things that the government does not want you to have regardless of laws. Oh I am sure a lot of drugs and contraband are stopped, but what about ammunition for a weapon you were allowed to have? What about alcohol if you do not drink? Or medicines that could be used as illegal drugs, but are vital to people’s lives? You now have to find a way to slip it in, or take what you need, making crime even worse”

 

I looked at her, and could see that she was envisioning what I had described. “So Vaklu is doing this?”

 

“Not only Vaklu, though he might be the force behind it. There are enough good men in the government that might feel that some restrictions were necessary, and they helped him get what he wanted.

 

“Then, just as the people would throw you off, you give them a reason for all of this. It isn’t you government doing this. It is those brave men of your government who are trying to stop the evil ones from doing what they would wish in violation of the law.

 

“The member planets of the Republic become the enemy. Fully a third of Iziz’s goods come from off planet, but those evil monsters out there charge more than they deserve. You are not stopping you people from having it, the rapacious monsters out there are the cause for that. If only they would deal honestly, there would not be a problem

 

“The Beast Riders are animals, they are filth, they are the kind of people that no self respecting family would allow into their families, and the fact that the Queen dares to stand by them shows how low the family has sunk. She was seduced by their ways, and if she had her way she would raze the walls and the city, and force everyone to travel with the seasons.

 

“If the Jedi were still common, they would be using us as another evil pawn. We would be the ones coming in to force order. Not the order of Onderon, but the order of the Republic. Evil agents of those distant oppressors.

 

“The people look for a hero now. They see it is General Vaklu. A man that fought the Mandalorians to a standstill, that is of pure blood, that cries for the people to return to the values of the last century, and cast aside the Republic.

 

“A shining hero can do what a common man cannot. He can rip out half a century of history and return it to what it was.”

 

The Situation worsens...

 

Marai

 

The idea of a checkpoint is simple. You place it, and everyone coming through it was searched. But to have one to get on a tram that starts at one place, and require someone to pass through another is not only the high point of redundancy, but absurd. A person complain, and the brusque guard merely pointed to a man to the side. “Take it up with Captain Gelesi. Me, I just follow orders.”

 

“But why must I go through this again?” A citizen wailed. “I was just here an hour ago! I went to see my sister off planet!”

 

The Captain walked over. “Calm down citizen. There are intelligence reports that Republic agents have been slipping weapons in to dissidents, and we have had to tighten security. But it is for your benefit.” He smiled, nodded politely, and went back to his post.

 

“That poor man.” A woman ahead of us said.

 

“Whatever do you mean?” I asked with a wide eyed expression.

 

“Do you know how hard it is to follow unpopular orders?”

 

“I think so.” That innocent doe eyed expression had been a good friend back when I was a security officer. No one thinks you have a brain in your head when he sees it.

 

“Military police captured a Rodian with equipment to falsify Star port visas, so they stopped issuing them except to travelers coming in as you are. If it is stolen or lost, you cannot leave the city center. Then there was that horrible unprovoked attack on our fleet earlier in the week. Intelligence reported that armed dissidents were preparing to strike at the palace and murder the queen.”

 

“That’s horrible!”

 

“Yes it is. General Vaklu has vowed to keep us safe, so this is just another problem that will go away when the Republic decides to leave us alone.”

 

“But why did you feel pity for the Captain?”

 

“He is loyal to the royal house, and to the Queen. There are rumors that men within our very army are part of the dissidents!” She looked horrified the way someone is by an animal in a cage. “Would you want to be on a lonely checkpoint when one of your own men might slit your throat in the name of Republic solidarity?”

 

“But the Republic doesn’t do such things.” I had noticed Gelesi coming back, and I pitched my voice so he would hear me.

 

“There are times when I think General Vaklu is right.” He said. “You are?”

 

“Marai.” I giggled. Mandalore looked at me askance, the Handmaiden merely rolled her eyes. “But why do you say that?”

 

“Because being part of the Republic means we end up fighting in their wars. They brought war to the system when the took Dxun from the Mandalorians, and the Jedi were there to interfere with our society even before that. Then the Jedi were the enemy in the last war, and a lot of our men died fighting them. Even with the Mandalorians on Dxun it was simpler and far safer.

 

“The General keeps pressure on the Queen to resign, or at least secede from the Republic. It has caused a breech in the army itself, because there are those that feel he is not only right, but that she should resign and let Vaklu lead.” He sighed. “But her father signed that treaty, and she feels we will get more than bloodshed from the Republic if we only give it time.”

 

He looked at the men who were busily processing the travelers. “I trust every man here, and none of them would help an off world concern if it hurt our people. But having them split between our own queen and our commanding general, that is a nightmare. If I gave an order and it was the queen’s will and not the general’s what would happen?” He mused.

 

He turned back to me. “Well since I am standing here, let me do some of the actual work.” He took a scanner, and read it. “All right, three legitimate transponders.” He waved. You can go, welcome to Iziz.”

 

We stepped through. There was a small clothing store near the entrance, more of a costume shop and I motioned Mandalore to stay outside. Something had caught my eye, and I was happy to find it.

 

A moment later, I stepped back. “What do you think?”

 

“I think it smacks of subterfuge.” The Handmaiden replied.

 

I sighed. “What do you know of the Zeison Sha of Yanibar?”

 

“They are a sect of a religion that teaches that anyone can find the Force within them if only they look. Separated from the Jedi 23,000 years ago because they also preach that those who use the force should not meddle in any way in the affairs of others. They advocate nonviolence and giving aid to the needy if at all possible. Yet they are trained in a variation of the Echani martial arts because while they are nonviolent, they are not stupid.” She repeated.

 

“That last sounds exactly like Atris.” I said.

 

“It is.”

 

“The cut isn’t exact for either sect. Neither is the cloth. But they are close enough that we can give a false impression.“ I motioned to the racks.

“It is either that or a Jal Shay.”

 

“Those pacifists? If we struck anyone they would know immediately what that we were in disguise.”

 

“The captain told us that General Vaklu has already linked Jedi to the Republic as part of the evils of it. While we bear lightsabers, we must avoid using them if at all possible. But if we defeat an enemy using our own skills with our hands, no one would be a bit surprised dressed this way.”

 

She looked at the mirror again. We were in Zeison Sha dress. The top of it was a formfitting body suit in purple and silver, with armor plating attached across the chest. After all, as Atris had said, they were not stupid. However They did believe in giving an opponent a chance to hurt them. From just below her breasts a sharp triangle uncovered her abdomen to the waist, with a corresponding one on the back. There were unarmored, and covered with a black mesh that concealed, but would not stop anyone from hitting or shooting her. Below our legs were slid into skin tight hose that also would not stop any attack. A half skirt covered us attached at the points where the triangles met. I was dressed as an Acolyte, her as an Initiate, the only difference being a sash I wore about my waist.

 

Our lightsabers hung from our belts, but the Zeison Sha used an extending battle staff when they had to fight, and our sabers would be considered as such until we touched the activation studs.

 

“If you say so.” She sighed.

 

“What’s the problem? You look scrumptious!” The triangle were skin tight, and by merely painting it mentally flesh colored, you could see our lower backs and stomachs.

 

She looked at me askance. “You are not helping.”

 

We stepped out, and Mandalore looked at us with a grin. “Mandalore’s fifth rule, always allow an enemy to make the wrong assumption.”

 

“That is in the book of Echana, The words on battle, book seventeen, verse 11.”

 

“Great minds think alike. But what is the rest of the book about?”

 

“How to live without violence, but dealing it to all that bother you.” She replied.

 

“Boring.”

 

We walked on. A man had been crowded into an alcove by half a dozen soldiers with the Iron Brigade’s symbol. “You can’t do this!”

 

“Silence, scum.” The subaltern smiled. “You can come quietly or we can beat you to a pulp right here, and no one will say a word.”

 

“I am not a spy! I am a journalist for Iziz Comm!”

 

“You are a spy for the Republic and your propaganda will be silenced! You will walk back to the barracks with us, or you will be dragged. Take your choice.”

 

“Propaganda! I have proof that General Vaklu ordered his men to attack a ship that didn’t even fire back!”

 

The subaltern swung, his fist hitting the man in the stomach. He fell gasping.

 

“When you are in the barracks you can speak to your heart’s content. Until then I suggest you be quiet.” He looked up, and saw me looking at him. “What do you think you are looking at?” He snarled.

 

I put my hands together, pointed forward and down palm to palm. “It is good to see the military helping the police in their investigations. But part of my soul has to ask...Do you have a warrant for this man’s arrest?”

 

He looked at me as if I had grown another head. “A warrant? I am under orders to carry out edict 17 of the Emergency Council. The military has been given broad authority to detain any citizen thought to be guilty of treasonous activities.”

 

“Ah.” I put a lot of meaning into that sound. “Thought to be... So you have proof of this claim?”

 

“That is classified military information.”

 

“But does not your own law say that no man shall be taken into custody without such proof? Not just supposition, but proof worthy of the light of day? And when questioned by any who see your acts, does not the law also say that such proof must be provided? Not passed aside as a secret, for secrets cannot stand the light of day?”

 

The men with him were grumbling. I wasn’t speaking my own mind. As if it were open in front of me, I was quoting the basic tenets of their trial law. A man may be asked to come, but unless he is considered already guilty, he is allowed to refuse. If he is thought guilty, the same rule applied, but they could take him by force if necessary, but if questioned, they had to give evidence that would stand up in court. I blessed my late master for his exhaustive reiterations of everything while we traveled.

 

I looked at his face, and suddenly I understood. “And how many other ‘journalists’ are even now languishing in detention, or being interrogated as we speak?” He would have lost at Pazaak with that face.

 

“I do not have to put up with these innuendos from you, uitlander!”

 

“Ah.” Again a lot said. “Yet even I who know little of the trade know that only a foolish spy would cloak himself as a journalist. If people know you are seeking answers, they will try to conceal them, will they not? But now it seems that those who speak with a voice your General does not approve has become enemy. The Galaxy would know this, I think.”

 

He had tried to call, but I had just gone all in. Unless he wanted to try to arrest us, he would have to fold. I may hate Pazaak and hate any form of gambling, but the metaphors are so excellent.

 

He knew he had lost, but he still had to bluster. “Let him go, men. You. citizen, will go home. I shall be back to bring you in. With a Warrant.” He stepped closer to me, trying to impress me with his height. But most men were taller than me, and that did no good. “And as for you, a word to the wise. If things change as I believe they will, the animosity of the Military is not what any visitor to our soil would desire. If you are known to harbor our enemies in thought word or deed, there will come a time of reckoning. Count on it.”

 

I watched him go. The Journalist flashed his star port visa, winked, and was gone.

 

The further we walked into the market, the worse it got. The people were as divided as their leaders, and even those of us that did not call the planet home were being caught up in it.

 

“Do not use Dxun as an excuse, my friend.” A Twi-lek was saying to a Devaronian as they walked ahead of us. “The Jedi have always been the seed of this problem If it were not for Exar Kun, a fallen Jedi himself, Dxun would never have been ceded to the Mandalorians.”

 

“But there are good and evil in all groups.” A surprisingly calm answer for the Devaronian race. “It is just that an Evil Jedi spreads a larger shadow than a merely evil man without his gifts. It is the principles of this that are at question here. The Queen and her General. Talia works within the Republic framework very well. She rules with a light hand, and her people love her.”

 

“True. I will concede that her intentions are good. But those closer to the throne see mistakes the common people do not. That is why so many of her own cabinet support Vaklu. She is too young to have the experience needed to bring her world from these troubled times.”

 

“But she is honest! Vaklu tries with his words to twist her people from her people. He is Schutta.”

 

“Schutta?” The handmaiden whispered.

 

“A Twi-lek swear word. It means someone that plays with their own Lekku and will not let others touch them.” She looked confused, then I made a motion as if brushing my hair then nodded toward the Twi-lek before us. She considered, then her eyes widened as she blushed.

 

“What ever else you might say, General Vaklu is a hero of the Mandalorian wars. A man with vision and experience in trying times.” The Twi-lek went on. “He may... use words to conceal what he believes, but he has the best interest of his people at heart.”

 

“So to help his people he murders his own kin? It is strange that the day the Queen’s father died Vaklu was in charge of his security detachment personally. When the assassin killed him there was only their word as to what occurred. The assassin was dead, and nothing linked him to any organization that had spoken out during the treaty process. There are those that remember that he is the heir if Talia dies without issue. Will he be willing to kill again, or go to war to take that crown?”

 

“Yet she weakens her own position with her support of the Republic.” The Twi-lek pressed. “The Republic was sick after the war of Exar Kun, it was wounded by the Mandalorian wars, and the Jedi Civil War has weakened it even further. Most of the planets of the Rim are still healthy, yet they are tired like children to a dying other’s womb. Any good doctor would separate them so they might live when the mother dies.”

 

“But the strength of the Republic is such that this will pass given time.” The Devaronian replied placidly. “If those with extra would only help those like Telos where it is needed, we all grow strong again. The Republic bore the greatest share of the burden during the war, and they will again time without number if we always help each other. Besides.” He looked at his companion with a speculative air. “If it were your leaders we discuss, whom would you trust more in this situation?”

 

“The question is not fair. Our leaders always see the entire tapestry, not the little parts the common man works upon. we must trust them to decide what is best for us.”

 

“Yet you stand beside someone that would usurp the throne to control it. How is that in the public good?”

 

“I may not trust every word he speaks, or that his advisors speak for that matter.” The Twi-lek admitted. “Yet he is a man of bravery and honor and never has he broken a promise.”

 

“But has he even made a promise? How can you trust anyone that spends so much time avoiding giving his word when his own people ask it of him? have heard him speak of the forgotten glory of his people, and the purity of his species that he seems to think so important. Yet not once has he said ‘I will fix this, I swear. Instead he says, ‘If only I were in charge, this could be done’.“ He turned and gave me that fanged grin of his people.

 

“Weighty things we speak of, human sentient. Upon what side do you come down upon?”

 

“I must confess that anyone who can politely explain what Schutta means would have a brain in her head. Tell us.”

 

I stopped. “A good leader can be many things, but unwilling to face the issue is not one of them. If his own people have asked for his word and the General refuses to give it, what manner of leader will he be? I have heard too many promises from politicians which they later fail to achieve through inaction, but I have never heard of an Onderoni that went back upon their word spoken publicly. To stand silent begs the question. Is it that he will not give his word, or cannot? To say he will not implies he does not wish to be bound by his oath of honor, so what he does is a lie. To say he cannot implies that he knows that he would be foresworn, and none can hold him to a word he has not given.

 

“Yet every word I have heard of the Queen says that she will not give her word unless she can encompass it, and she has said many times that upon her word of honor Onderon will leave the Republic over her dead body, whether she is queen or not. So that leaves Vaklu only one way to win, and that is if she dies.”

 

“There is that. She would die rather than let her people be dragged into something that she feels may be of a danger to them” The Twi-lek admitted. He looked at the people around us.”

 

“Now if only their people would realize it.”

 

We were deep in the foreign quarter when a Rodian stepped out in front of us. I could see movement. Maybe eight ten others. They were placed to surround and contain us.

 

“You really should think to get some false ID.” The Rodian said. “A friend at the Star Port noticed a shuttle. Very strange a shuttle from Dxun, where your ship crashed. With a woman I have sought for so long.”

 

“Do I know you kind sir?”

 

He chuckled. “Marai Devos, the surviving rider of someone else’s doom. You have led every bounty hunter in every system on a wild fowl chase until now.”

 

“Sir, you mistake me for someone else.”

 

“No mistake, General.” He hissed. “I was in the crowd before Malachor. The crowd was dead in an instant thanks to you! Now only I survive. I know everyone considers a Jedi too dangerous to face alone.” He motioned. “As you can see, I am not.”

 

“The path of peace has many that will ensnare you.” They were too well hidden for me to see them all. Perhaps Mandalore had a better view. I knelt, hands before me in prayer. After a moment, The Handmaiden joined me.

 

“What are you doing?” She hissed.

 

“We are unarmed.”

 

“No we’re-” She suddenly smiled. “Always allow an enemy to make the wrong assumption.”

 

The tableau was frozen. We had protested mildly, what you would expect from Zeison Sha. Now we were obviously trying to prove our non-belligerence. The men in hiding began to come out. There were nine of them. Most armed with stunners. Mandalore looked around. “Unless they have a sniper that can shoot through wall, that is all of them.” He said. ”Got a plan?”

 

“Me on one side, her on the other, and you cleaning up the stragglers”

 

He smiled. “I like your style. Give the word.”

 

I stood again, and the Handmaiden and I faced the ones around us. The only one that didn’t have a stunner was the Rodian.

 

Then we moved. I felt but did not see the Handmaiden leap, crossing the five meters between her and the man on the far right of the line on her side. I had done the same but was on the far left. Four men on my side, five on hers.

 

I caught the man’s wrist, using a nerve hold that brought a scream to his lips as I spun him between me and his fellows. I picked him up using the force, and threw him in a flat arch toward the others as I dropped to one knee, other leg extended to the side. Mandalore’s weapon roared.

 

My missile hit the first, and had bowled into the third as I leaped again past the tangle of bodies. I snatched the stunner from the last man’s hands, slapped him into a wall, and turned it on the pile, then him.

 

I spun, but it was already over. The Rodian had been blown back and into a wall, feet hanging 30 centimeters from the ground. I walked over to the other side, looking.

 

“You killed one.” I told her.

 

“He hurried me.” She replied. I knelt, going through the man’s pockets. “What are you doing?”

 

I held up his Star Port visa and his wallet. “When they wake up, I think they need to reconsider what they do for a living. Having to beg or buy another visa will ram the lesson home added to the pain.”

 

“Why won’t they just steal-” Her eyes widened. I was stripping the man very efficiently. “What-”

 

“A man does not come across as very big or bad when he has to cover his groin.”

 

She chuckled, then helped me. We had them laid out neatly in their separate lines as if they were the dead from a battle before we were done. Mandalore piled all of the clothing in a lump, and fired it with a plasma grenade. We put the visas and any spare cash the bounty hunters had graced us with in our pouches.

 

“Are you through having fun?” Mandalore asked grinning.

 

“I don’t know.” I looked at him speculatively. “Wouldn’t it look more even with ten instead of nine?”

 

“You wouldn’t.”

 

I plucked at his sleeve and he backed off. “Now wait-” The Handmaiden snatched at the other.

 

Suddenly he realized that we were joking, and exactly how ridiculous he looked. We laughed together. It was comradeship, knowing that we would depend on each other in a battle.

 

There was a thump of boots, and a small group of policemen came around the corner. At there lead was a small man with a commanding presence. He took in the scene, then sauntered over. “My oh my, what do I have here?” He asked.

 

“A slight... disagreement with some men, sir.” I replied.

 

He looked at the nude bodies, then at the Rodian imbedded in the wall. “I can see that much. Why are they... undressed?” He had a face worthy of Pazaak.

 

“I felt it would be a salutary lesson in the evils of preying on the weak.”

 

“Or the strong when they are in a puckish mood.” He agreed. “Did you know there were laws against public nudity outside of the home or cantina?”

 

“There are?” I gave him that blank Bambi stare.

 

“Did you bother to remove their visas from the clothes before the bonfire?”

 

I stood silent. He sighed. “Men, arrest the men for assault and public nudity. Maybe a couple of days in the cells will teach them better manners.” He looked at me, then his eye dropped in a slow wink. “Stay out of trouble. If I hear of any other nude parties, I will know who to find.”

 

we continued on.

[machievelli]

For all who waited with bated breath on the turgid romance that I had worried about revealing, forget it. First, I rewrote it, so there.

 

Second when I tried to post it, I had exactly 430 charcters too many. For those interested, that is two paragraphs average.

 

Go figure

[Jae Onasi]

Oh, no--430 characters? Ugh.

Your break-off point worked perfectly, however. I love the cop's dialog at the end.

[machievelli]

Quick question: What species is the holo of Goto? The only time i ever saw it before was in the ancient comic book serial based on the original episode.

[machievelli]

Of Bonding

 

Handmaiden

 

I suddenly realized that it was about Marai that had called to me. I was one of five sisters, but I had never been sister to them. Sister of flesh they always called me, yet to the Echani, a true sister is sister of flesh and blood. They had never been mean to me, or at least not since we had grown to womanhood. When they had played, they always chosen games that needed pairs, so they could readily deny me if I wished to join it.

 

At the Telos Academy, they had trained with me, because it would have bee their shame if I fell in battle because of their refusal. But still we were not true sisters.

 

Sister of flesh. It has a meaning among our people that is dark and denies you company.

 

Yet Marai had accepted me from the start. She had spoke to me with a kindness none had shown to me since my father had died. Her impulse to strip the men had spoke of something else. The willingness to have fun with another. She had reached back through time, found that sad little girl I had been, and asked me to play. Joking with Mandalore had been even more fun. The Mandalorians have no body modesty taboos beyond social ones. It is impolite to expose yourself unless the other person would appreciate it, (Knowing them, not a mere assumption) or in a setting where it might make others comfortable, such as at a dinner, or visiting.

 

To the Echani, to disrobe is to speak with your entire voice. The difference between a whisper and a shout. To us you can tell more about what a person believes or thinks by watching them move stand and fight than you ever can from mere words. You get the inner person little revealed by most people after reaching adulthood.

 

The Heart of battle we call it, where a person is stripped of all their lies, and revealed.

 

“A centi-cred for your thoughts.” Marai asked softly.

 

“I was thinking that with five sisters, I have never felt so accepted as I do with you.”

 

“I grow on you. Sort of like a fungus.” She said blandly. I chuckled.

 

“Do you know that I have never had my sisters joke with me since we were children?”

 

“That is sad.”

 

“I had hoped that showing my heart in battle when we grew older, but they did not want to believe my open heart.”

 

“There are other ways to communicate. Talking for instance.”

 

“But the heart speaks loudest when you fight. Take the traitor Malak.”

 

“Why him?”

 

“His attack on Telos spoke of his heart more loudly than his words would. His destruction of that world was brutal callous and had no finesse. Where Revan had been kinder, he would have been the worst ruler the Galaxy had ever seen.

 

“Revan spoke with the language of tactics and strategy. It is the difference between taking the threads and weaving the pattern as she did compared to merely throwing paint on the canvas as Malak would. She showed her heart to the Galaxy when she went into Malachor V. It was a cold heart, but there was pity.

 

“Then she returned reborn, living the live of her savior. That life moved her feet in a gentler, but no less adamant path.”

 

“Reborn?”

 

I told her of Revan’s redemption. “I wish someone had recorded the final battle between her and Malak.”

 

She pondered what I had told her. “And what do you think she was saying?” She asked in a soft voice.

 

“That Malak had betrayed her merely for the lust of power. Unlike you or my father, he left himself no place to stand in redemption. That she understood him, accepted him, but could not bear to have him live a moment longer.”

 

She was pensive. “What is the problem?”

 

“Malachor V. It wasn’t all Revan’s fault that it happened. Don‘t paint me as a shining saint. I was not awake when it happened I did not see it, only the aftermath. But I was the author of that massacre more surely than Revan or the Mandalorians.”

 

“You speak the truth, but I do not understand. It hearkens back to Atris and her unreasoning hatred when she spoke aloud. But beneath it...”

 

“Beneath what?”

 

“Both of you share one thing. A sense of profound loss. Yours comes from Malachor, hers, from when you were banished. When she spoke with words, it was always harsh, unrelenting. But by watching her hands, her face, the movements of her body, I felt only her own pain and loss. She has felt that searing agony since you were sent away.”

 

“She made her feelings more than clear at my trial.”

 

“She did what she felt had to be done, but it is as if she had to amputate her own hand to stand there and speak against you. It was so difficult for her to speak of, or admit, that she has spent the last decade denying it even to herself.” I watched her face. “Is it that you did not care for her as she did for you?” I asked hesitantly. “Atris is beautiful and wise.”

 

“When I faced you in Kashin-Dra, I defeated you by being a bit better.” She said softly. “I was struck by the same when I was but a girl. Atris brought me from it as if I were the horrible monster of legend.”

 

I remembered the stories. But they taught of the love the person had that brought their lover back from madness.

 

“There had been Jedi that have fallen from the order in times past because of their love for a person. Atris said there were others that had even done so and kept their unions secret to remain.”

 

“Yes. It happens.”

 

“I did not know if you knew it from knowledge or from experience.”

 

“I think every Jedi feels it with others at times. “ She was solemn. “But love of any form is not for us. Besides, Atris and I were friends, nothing more.”

 

“But you never expressed it to her.” I considered. “It is said that Revan who is of my race bonded to the woman Bastila as we would.”

 

“I could not follow that path.” She said harshly.

 

“But-”

 

“No.” Her voice was harsh with pain. “She spoke to me of bonding, but I refused her. To bond because you care so deeply I can understand. But I am not Echani. I would have to deny it if I were to remain Jedi.”

 

“I do not-”

 

“When there were rumors we might be lovers in the Academy, I stayed as far from her as I could. I knew the stories, I had heard of them. To touch the mind of a man driven to the beast is the greatest expression of love in your world. Only a maiden pure with love in her heart can succeed, and they are bonded for all eternity by that love.” She stopped. looking at me sadly. “But I was afraid of what a bond would bring.”

 

Suddenly I understood her misconception. “And you were how old?”

 

“Sixteen.”

 

“Did she not tell you?” I asked gently

 

“Tell me what?”

 

“Most do not understand my people. They think we concentrate on nothing but sex, but it is love we cherish. Of lovers, true, but there is the bond of child to parent. Of siblings to protect. Of teacher to student. Even to ideals, such as you would have sworn if you were Echani when you joined the Jedi.

 

“I think that is what brought my father to my conception. He did not marry for love, or for the bond. He had already sworn his to the people of our home world as their warrior.”

 

“Then-”

 

“You jumped to a conclusion then. She might not even have thought of you in that way.”

 

“All these years...” She blushed. “I thought-”

 

“I have asked that which I did not need to know. Forgive me.” I asked softly.

 

She sighed. “You are my sister of battle. There will never be a question you cannot ask me.”

 

Encirclement

 

It was not going well. General Vaklu looked at the reports on his desk, and almost flung them across the room. The anti Propaganda edict had worked better than he expected. All of those journalists who had proven exactly how close they cleaved to their ethical stand of disclosure when it was a choice of ‘the people have a right to know‘ and being told they would suffer pain for telling them.

 

But one of the worst had not only slipped the net, but some foreign woman had helped him escape! His first broadcast from orbit from a departing ship began with ‘This is the truth from exile’ and had blasted those sensor records that had proven that his men, and not the Republic dogs had begun shooting.

 

Of course damage control had eased the problem. The blame had fallen on the squadron commander, luckily already dead in that battle. He had overstepped his authority in giving the order to fire. Fortunately those records had not leaked to the press.

 

Colonel Tobin came in almost running. He reminded the General of a lap dog, desperate for attention.

 

“The Jedi is alive and here in Iziz!” He said.

 

“Is this yet another preface to a glorious failure, Colonel?”

 

He even had that woebegone face of the lapdog. Honestly sometimes Vaklu wanted to kick him. “Consider the equation, Tobin. Staying on Dxun, she can meet quietly with any number of people. After all, we have yet to halt traffic to the moon. Coming here is bearding the lion in his den. Why would she be so foolish?”

 

“We were warned that the crew of the Ebon Hawk was resourceful General. I take full responsibility for what happened because I thought that no single merchant vessel could stand off two full squadrons.”

 

“But it wasn’t just one ship, was it?” Vaklu asked mildly. “Instead it was what fifteen merchant ships that opened fire after Republic Corona was hit.” He stared at the man. “If you had sent a corvette, the problem would have been cooling ash in orbit, and I would not have lost the best squad of trackers I had in my army.”

 

“If I may.” Tobin activated the holo-vid. Captain Gelesi was at the entry gate. A woman was there before him.

 

“You are?”

 

“Marai.” The woman giggled.

 

Vaklu expanded the holo until they were life sized. He stood within the penumbra of Gelesi, looking into her eyes. No, there was little of the coquette there, unless she had been a street walker for a decade, or a policeman. It was a well done act that almost but didn’t quite ring true.

 

“I am ordering the action platoon to prepare. They are in the Western foreign quarters. They will swoop down-”

 

“You are getting ahead of yourself, Colonel.” Vaklu cut him off. “We know someone if the Palace is helping the Queen. He helped foil what is it, seven assassination attempts? That person is more important.”

 

He looked the woman in the face. “She is obviously incredibly brave, or equally stupid. We will use her as a staked animal to attract the Brantarii into the range of our guns. And when it is there, she and that creature will die. Have her watched. If she meets anyone that leaves the palace, only then will we spring the trap.”

 

 

Dhagon Ghent.

 

Marai

 

“It looks as if it has been razed to the ground.” The Handmaiden commented.

 

“Nah, he leave it that way to avoid the scavengers.” Mandalore waved toward the people that were moving around, searching piles of refuse. “Ever since Vaklu started this entire dance, the poor have suffered even more. Those who had been barely able to make ends meet were suddenly thrown into the mess as well.”

 

“So much pain. all for a political statement.” The Handmaiden sighed.

 

“The problem with politics is that to some of those people in the ivory towers, the ‘people’ are the ones they deal with, not the people grubbing for food.” I reached into my pocket, and pulled out all those credits the men had been carrying. Not Onderoni Dragons, but Hutt Slices or Republic Credits. The two most stable currencies anywhere in the galaxy. I wanted to fling the handful of coins over my shoulder toward them, and turned away, but I would have caused a riot.

 

The inside didn’t look any better, and I was about to comment on the expert disguise when I felt Mandalore tense. The inside of the rooms might have been comfortable, but they had been ransacked by someone who loved their work. One man was going through it, gathering things together, then stood there was if he didn’t know where to put them. He looked up, and saw us.

 

“Mandalore.” He spoke like the survivor of a city where we had fought house to house. He dropped the things in his hands, and came over, giving the Mandalorian a clasp that spoke not of friend, but brothers in battle, a deeper relationship among the Mandalorians.

 

“I see you have redecorated. Anyone I know?”

 

“Bekkel.” He made the name a curse. “I was helping a family in the ghetto for the last tow nights. Too poor to go to a good doctor, but too proud to beg.”

 

“Dhagon is one hell of a doctor, don’t let him fool you.” Mandalore said. “But he had a spice problem during the Mandalorian Wars, and they pulled his licenses.” He motioned toward the mess. “This Bekkel dislikes you so much?”

 

“How many Beast Riders have you dealt with, Mandalore?” Dhagon rasped.

 

“Quite a few.”

 

“Bekkel is a Beast Rider by birth, but she took to the ways of the city bravo so well. Now she and those that follow her try to control the ghettos along the corridor, and she doesn’t like the idea that I will not kowtow. This is her...rebuttal to the argument.”

 

“Mandalore told me that you have connections throughout the city.” I said. “Even within the palace.”

 

“Good luck trying without them.” He commented. “There have been several attempts on the Queen’s life. Security is so tight I don’t know if I could reach in and contact anyone.”

 

“Assassination attempts?”

 

“Five that I know of for sure, ten if you listen to street gossip. Anyone with two brain cells will tell you who is behind them, but there is no proof.”

 

“I believe Kavar is inside there, and I must contact him immediately.”

 

“The Jedi master?” He looked at me benignly. “Do you know I could buy a Hutt pleasure palace with the proceeds of the act if I told the Bounty Hunters that? But as Mandalore will tell you, my word of honor is all I have left from the Mandalorians wars. Nothing will make me give it up.” He looked at the mess. “I can see that it is urgent, but I am unable to help you.”

 

“What?”

 

“Stay your anger. I did not say I would not help you, but that I could not. The one thing I would need to help you is a series of encrypted discs I kept in that cabinet.” He waved idly toward a pile of shattered wooden fragments. “Without my own computer, and the codes kept here in my head, they are worthless. I can guarantee that no one will get the codes, so even arrest will not give the information to someone who wants it. Since the war, it is the one thing I do well.”

 

“Then we must find this woman.” I said.

 

“Finding her is easy. But getting the discs back might be a problem.”

 

“We will deal with it.” I promised.

 

*****

There was a cantina nearby, and Bakkel I was told would be there. The more I saw of the squalor, the more anger I felt for Vaklu. How could he rationalize such suffering caused not by events, but by his own machinations?

 

One woman in what had once been fine clothes was digging through a pile. Her children worked silently beside them. She looked up at me, and for a moment, I saw a flash of pride. Then she turned away.

 

“From the look of your clothes, you don’t belong here.”

 

“It is where I am now.” She snapped at me. “Have you come to gloat off worlder? Terylyn who once enjoyed moving among the elite digging through the garbage? Terylyn who once had homes and vehicles and ships digs in filth to find something to sell for food!” She looked away.

 

I took the piece she had been squeezing. It was a hollow child’s ball. “Where do you sell such things?”

 

She looked at me, and I could still see the pride. She would not beg, even in her dire straits. I saw the children considering me. The boy was eleven or twelve. He had the wary look of someone’s world shattered beyond hope. He was so close to becoming just another thug that one pain might take him over the edge. The girl was tired, hungry, and would have taken food from my hand like a feral kitten.

 

“Do you work for hire?”

 

She had her pride, but I saw the wounded look of a mother desperate to protect her children. “If I must.”

 

Then come.” I stood. Mandalore looked at me confused as we turned away from the cantina, and went to the tram. I looked at the schedule.

 

“Now, Terylyn, there will be truth between us.” She flinched back, her children behind her. “Terylyn who once enjoyed moving among the elite, you described yourself. Yet I do not know of you. What has caused you to be cast low?”

 

“My husband was Darien. He was a member of the Council. A staunch supporter of the crown, and her grace. When the troubles first began five years ago he supported first the king, then his daughter, the Queen. When the law began to become more oppressive, he led the fight to stop them from taking the rights of our people.

 

“Then it was announced five months ago that he had tried to convince General Vaklu to assassinate her grace, that in his attempt to flee, he was killed. Several member of the council were implicated, and three of them were arrested.

 

“On General Vaklu’s orders we were thrown from our home, and all property except for one small courier was seized. But he boasted that I had a way off the planet, and access to my funds, if only I had a Star Port visa. He roared at the idea of seeing me and my children waste away while food money and a way off this world waited just out of reach.” She looked away. “He has such a baroque sense of humor.”

 

I reached out, and handed her the fare to the spaceport. She looked at me confused. Then her eyes widened as I lay a space port visa on top of it. “You will need that.”

 

I stood with them in the line, and when the visa had cleared, she looked at me.

 

“Take yourself away until things have settled down. You have money and a ship. Go somewhere safe.”

 

She gaped wordlessly. I shoved her toward the tram.

 

“But you do not know me! Why should you even care?”

 

“It is not for you.” I knelt, touching the girl’s face. Then like a magician, I made a credit coin vanish, then plucked it from her ear, then handed it to her. “It is for you, little one.” I stood up. “Go.”

 

The girl was still watching me as the tram raced away.

 

We walked back to the cantina. “That was very generous.” The Handmaiden said.

 

“No it was not.” I snapped. “I would help everyone of these people in want but if I did we would be stranded here, and it would be the same for them tomorrow. Maybe contacting Master Kavar and the queen will fix this, but will it end their suffering this very minute?” I sighed. “It isn’t finding people that need help, my dear sister. It is being able to help all that need it and no one is that rich in money goods or time.”

 

*****

 

The area outside the cantina was rife with the stink of brantarii. A dozen or more of them were squatting on the stone cobbles. Unused to such tight company, they were snapping at each other, and the scavengers left a wide berth.

 

Bakkel was a tall strong woman in Rider leathers, swilling beer in one of the private rooms. I tried to speak to her, but her men would not let us pass.

 

“We could shoot our way in.” Mandalore suggested hopefully.

 

“And what about the damage?” The Handmaiden said.

 

“There is that.” I looked about. Considering the clientele, it might improve the gene pool enormously, but I was not doing social engineering.

 

I felt a wave of emotion, automatically suppressing it. Only then did I realize that it was not mine. I followed the thread, finding one of the larger Brantarii outside. It was frustrated. He wanted to soar, to find strike and eat prey, to get away from the chemical stink of the city, and the natural stink of too many Brantarii in one place.

 

I walked over to the door guard, waiting until he finally paid attention. “Tell Bakkel that I will be in the square, and if I do not see her in five minutes, she will be Ground bound.” Then I turned on my heel.

 

“Wait.” Mandalore followed. “Did you just threaten to kill their Brantarii?”

 

I shook my head. “In their legends, there is another way to become ground bound. It is when your Brantarii refuses you either in the taking or in the bonding process. It happens as well when you are considered no longer worthy of that bond.

 

“If it occurs, you are not Rider any more. You hold no station, can give no orders. It would be like a trial among your kind stripping them of honor and status. For a leader, it means her people must abandon her, or execute her.”

 

He looked at me a long time. “How are you at Djarik?”

 

“Master class.”

 

“I should have known.”

 

I stopped in the square, the door at one end, myself at the other, and every Brantarii between me and that door. I sent out a feeling of foreboding, that the edges of the Zakal, the deadly lightning storms of the Onderoni plains was near.

 

It didn’t take long. Me, an off worlder had thrown down a gauntlet Bakkel could not deny is she wished to remained in command. She did however make a production of facing it. She stepped out, a flagon of beer in one hand, and a leg of fowl in the other. She looked toward me twenty meters away, flipping the leg toward the nearest Brantarii. I sent to it’s mind that the meat was tainted, and ir backed away.

 

Bakkel’s calm slipped a bit. She grinned chugged the flagon dry, then flung it over her shoulder. She started forward.

 

To the first two Brantarii I sent the feeling that one of the weaker ground predators menaced their nests. They hissed almost in unison, and one, a female advanced. Bakkel backed, surprised and alarmed.

 

I stood silent. It wasn’t because I wished to, but controlling more than one was a test of my control, a test I might lose.

 

She moved forward, and now both lunged at her. She backed and ran into one of her men. He looked at her oddly, and I knew his thoughts. The first sign of a leader’s disfavor was what they were seeing now. If she only refused to move forward again...

 

She obliged me. She hooked her thumbs in her belt. “The Brantarii seem a bit spooked today. If you have the courage, you may come and speak to me.”

 

I released the controls, and pictured a beautiful sky with clouds and thermals to ride, and no dangers. As a group, the pride of Brantarii seemed to relax. Her face slipped as I walked forward, hands clasped before me. I made no threatening moves, had no weapon they could see.

 

I paced between the lines, and they ignored me. They had been trained to attack a human only if that one was un-bonded, a danger or approaching them. But they did not see me.

 

I paused between the same two that had challenged her passage. They ignored me, as they should have with her. The Beast Riders began to edge away from her.

 

“In the days when the Beast Riders first took their beasts, many considered them evil, and there were those that would have slain them. Goren the Great did say ’The proof of a man’s heart is what his beast thinks of him, and those of our people whom the beasts challenge must realize that it is the will of the Gods that has given some and not others the right to ride them.

 

“ ‘Do not judge those unworthy by this. For even those bound forever to the ground have good hearts. They just do not have the god-given right to ride as we do. And those that stand with the evil ones deserve the same‘.” I reached out. The beast looked at me, and I saw in her mind a picture of her rider, one of the women now standing far from her leader. I impressed on her that the rider was there, hand outstretched with a treat. It made a querulous sound, and came forward, fanged mount gently lipping my hand, trying to find the treat. I rubbed it’s head, hearing the shriek of betrayal from the woman. She spun, and her glare was on Bakkel, not me.

 

“I am sorry, I owe you a treat.” I whispered. The beast backed away, but allowed my touch. I pulled out a ration pack, and fed it to the animal gently.

 

Bakkel was watching me as a bird might watch a reptile. I looked at her and smiled gently.

 

“Baranthor Goren‘s-blood, Great Grandson of Goren said, ‘Judge your leaders by how the beasts do speak unto them. For their hearts are pure of the evils of the City, and they will flock to those who speak with the voice of the pure heart, and shun those who deny it‘.”

 

I rubbed that head, then moved to the center again. “And what can be said of your heart Bakkel? You and yours steal from the weak, not because they have what you want but because they cannot resist. You harm those that do good,” I waved toward Dhagon’s home. “Rather than allow them to walk without giving you obeisance you demand, but are not due.” I felt along her link, finding one of the largest Brantarii there. “Who will your own mount accept, you who betray what the greats of you clans teach or I? Shall I test it?”

 

I reached out, calming the great beast. If I could touch his head, have him act as the lesser of the pride had, she was done. If lucky, they would only banish her. If not they would tear her apart and feed her to the mounts.

 

 

“Wait!” I could hear the panic in voice. Too many that were of her clan stood there with cold eyes. I could kill her with a touch. I stayed my hand. “What would you of me?” She asked softly.

 

“It is not me but your own blood that demands it.” I replied. “Return what you have taken by force, for that is not your way, it is of this city that beguiled you. Return to the mountain fastness. Learn again what it is to be not only Beast Rider, but to be Leader among them. Come back only when you heed that call, and not the baser of your instincts.

 

“If you agree with this punishment from your own sires, there is hope for you yet.” I moved aside from her mount. “Or give up what makes you Beast Rider and become something that slithers across the ground rather than seeing the world from the heights.”

 

She looked at me. Then at one of those with her. “Sanait. Bring all that we have taken and pile it here. This one,” She nodded toward me. “She shall assure that those to whom it belongs will gain it back. The hills and sky is all a Beast Rider needs.”

 

The man bowed.

 

“That is not a proper response.” I chided him. “If she is worthy as your leader, she is also worthy of your respect.”

 

He fell to one knee.” I accept your command.” He replied.

 

She nodded to me in respect as her people leaped to obey that command. The scavengers and poor stood there astonished at the loot, and many hungered for it. But they stood aside as the Beast Riders finished, then went to their mounts.

 

“You have ruined me.” Bakkel hissed, though none of her people heard.

 

“It is not ruin to live to your heritage.” I replied. “The sky and the winds will cleanse your spirit.”

 

She glared at me, but nodded her head. She walked toward her beast, and I could feel her trepidation. He made a glad cry, and she leaped to wrap her arms around his neck. She looked back at me, tears of joy in her eyes. Then she leaped up, legs hanging beside the head.

 

“When you are needed, you will return.” I told her.

 

She signalled, and they took off in a formation that would have made a snub fighter Squadron green with envy.

 

We took the discs from the pile, then stood there while those that had been robbed came forward. A number of them glanced furtively at me, but none took anything that was not theirs. Eventually there was a pile from people who were dead or gone away. I allowed each of those that had not taken something to get some for themselves.

 

we carried the discs to Dhagon. He began scanning them quickly. “All right, I have it set.” He turned back to us. “I am leaving here. It’s all well and good to be this connected, but if this meet falls through neither you nor I will be welcome on this world within our lifetimes.”

 

I handed him one of the star port visas we had liberated. He nodded his thanks.

 

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I hope I never see you again.”

[stingerhs]

good work, mach. i know that i don't comment much in this area, but i felt it might be necessary after all the 'collaborations', hehe.

[Emperor Devon]

Quick question: What species is the holo of Goto? The only time i ever saw it before was in the ancient comic book serial based on the original episode.

 

A human. The reason he looks so blue in-game is because Obsidian wanted to make him look more hologram-ish.

[Jae Onasi]

good work, mach. i know that i don't comment much in this area, but i felt it might be necessary after all the 'collaborations', hehe.

 

Quoted for emphasis....

 

I know you put a lot of work into that, and it looked good.

[machievelli]

Walking into the trap

 

Kavar

 

Is it possible this meeting is a trap?” Queen Talia asked. “You have spent so much time keeping me alive, i do not think I can afford to lose you.”

 

“Of course it could be a trap. Vaklu is no fool, or we would have put him away years ago. But if the message is true, that an old friend wishes to see me, I must try to speak with her.”

 

“Is this not the one you worried about all those years ago?”

 

“Yes, but I can‘t see her joining with Vaklu even on our worst day.”

 

“Then let me send someone else. Some one-”

 

“Expendable?” I asked softly. She flushed. “Your Majesty I could never send another into danger like that.”

 

“Inside the Palace I can protect you. But beyond these walls are hundreds perhaps thousands that would kill you like swatting a fly.”

 

“If I were that easy to kill I would have been ashes a decade ago, your grace.” I looked down. “There is a disturbance in the force. Something I did not believe I would ever feel again. I must find out if it is what I think it to be. For that I must go.”

 

She sighed, sitting on her throne, chin set on her fist. “Will you at least be careful?”

 

“Aren’t I always?” I turned to go.

 

As I reached the door i heard her plaintive reply. “Why does that not reassure me?”

 

*****

 

Mandalore

 

The cantina was lively. The world could end tomorrow, and that merely meant people were more willing to spend and gamble, because if they were dead who needed the credits?

 

I watched the door coming in. There was a back way, but if we used that I was going to kill everyone between me and it. For their own sakes, I hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

 

The girl had gone to the gambling den, then been escorted back to our table after about an hour. Qimtiq the owner complained because of the amount of money she had won. The girl had said she merely looked at the swoop racers as they came onto the field, and bet on who she thought would win. She had taken a single credit and run it up to ten thousand that way. Marai had a discussion with her about how not to use the force, and the girl was still pondering it when he showed.

 

I recognized him immediately. We’d had intelligence reports on Kavar when we heard the Jedi were going to enter the war. The youngest master ever, he had been our pick for the leader of them. It had surprised us when he had been not the number two man but about number 3. Revan and Malak had been their naval commanders, the woman beside me had been one of those that led the ground troops into Dxun with Kavar in charge of the second landing zone and overall command. Then he had disappeared. We’d thought him dead, though Marai had later proven to be more than we could handle.

 

She stood, her head bent in respect. “Master Kavar.”

 

“You must have gone through a lot to set this up, so we have no time for pleasantries. I might have been followed.” He looked. “By the look of you, you are Canderous Ordo, the heir claimant to the title of Mandalore.”

 

“The honor given to me by Revan after her redemption.”

 

He waved that off. Even after all she had done five years ago, too many of the Masters still seemed to hold a grudge. “Strange times means stranger allies. My student should have considered that before she made this alliance, but it doesn‘t matter.”

 

“When the council met, I thought you at least would understand.” Marai said softly.

 

“It was a time of great uncertainty. One war had ended, but Revan was bringing a new one and none of us was sure which side of it you would have been on. But there was more to it than that. I felt at the time that we owed you an explanation of our concerns but-”

 

“Trouble.” I whispered. Colonel Tobin had come in, with a dozen or so men, all heavily armed.

 

Kavar reached for his lightsaber, and froze in shock as Marai touched his hand. “If we draw our lightsabers, Vaklu will have his leaders for the dissidents. Those evil Jedi.”

 

“Our?” He asked. Then he ignored his own question. “Then I am caught and the Queen defenseless.”

 

“You have played team ‘catch me’ have you not?” I asked. Kavar merely looked at her confused. I began to chuckle.

 

To anyone else, ‘catch me’ would be called tag. A child chasing everyone else to touch them, so that one may now pursue. But among the Mando-a everything is training for later life.

 

In ‘catch me‘ you run from the others, and they must catch you. It teaches you how to fight alone, and if necessary, hide. But there is also the team sport and each of those teams try to capture and subdue the other. I do not speak of merely touching. You must capture them and bind them. It takes teamwork to be able to win because there are few rules. No weapons pretty much says it all.

 

It is one of the only games in the universe where you have casualty lists afterward.

 

She explained, leaning forward as if they shared some deep secret. The girl merely smiled. I knew she had heard of it.

 

Tobin came sauntering over to us. “A nice pot of Jedi I have found. I must thank you, woman. This will give the General what he needs as proof of the Queen’s treachery. Now I would like you all to come quietly. My men will shoot and there will be casualties, all caused by you in the final reports.”

 

Marai stood as the did the girl. They were in what we would call the box. Unable to move quickly. Marai turned toward her student, extended her hand as if to bid her goodbye and as they clasped softly said, ‘Nynir.”

 

At the command to strike, I leaped forward. catching Tobin around the waist, throwing him into the men behind him. Kavar was less than a second behind me when the girl suddenly flew past us. Marai had spun to throw her, and between them they had imparted a lot of energy into that combined leap and throw. She curled into a ball, and struck the men behind those first assailants like a massive cannon ball.

 

I hit one of them behind the ear. To my right Kavar had picked up another, and slammed him into a wall. To my left Marai landed, struck twice economically, and her man dropped.

 

The Handmaiden popped to her feet, and the last man went down gasping from her kick to his chest.

 

“There are more outside.” Kavar said.

 

Marai opened her pouch, and grinned. Then she led the way to the door. A shower of coins sprayed into the air, and the poor saw them and leaped to gain them. With them as cover, we leaped down to the side, taking the two men that were there by surprise, incapacitating them as we ran toward the tram to the market square.

 

A squad had formed to stop us, but when we charged around the corner without even a hint of firing behind us, their sergeant was confused. He was about to give the order when the four of us hit them like a tidal wave.

 

“Be back here in two weeks!” Kavar shouted, running to a swoop bike. We dealt with the rest of the men, then hurried to the checkpoint. The guard looked up at us with no sign of recognition.

 

“It is just Tobin and Vaklu’s men.” I told them as our tram rocketed away. “All we must do is get past them, and we are clear.”

 

“And if the guard on the next checkpoint is one of Vaklu’s?”

 

“Do you always look at the negative?” I asked.

 

We stepped from the Tram at the entrance of the space port, and one of the guards reacted to us. He reached for his sidearm as he lifted his com link. “They’ve broken through!” He shouted.

 

The girl leaped into a run, diving below his shot, then kicked, her paired legs lifting and throwing him into a wall behind him. The other guards looked stunned.

 

“What means this?” The guard sergeant demanded. “We have no reports of dissidents on this tram?”

 

“What have you heard from the Western square?”

 

“Nothing.” He looked confused. He lifted his com link, and spoke. Then he shook it. “No reply. Someone must be jamming.”

 

“Of simply not letting you get through.” Marai replied. “That man works for General Vaklu, not the Queen.”

 

“But-” He heard a chirp from his com link, and lifted it. “Tram station.”

 

“The turrets just went active at the space port. Don’t know why, and we’re locked out!”

 

“Maybe-”

 

“Sergeant, we really have a ship to catch.” Marai said smoothly. “I promise not to blame you if I get hurt.” We ran before he could answer.

 

“I will.” I growled.

 

“Ah but we won’t be.” She turned to her student. “Close your eyes, my dear. Feel with the force ahead. What do you feel?”

 

“Energy, focused in nodes.” She breathed in deeply. They seek targets, us.”

 

“Now feel along those nodes. Are there places where they are weak?”

 

The girl’s head cocked. “Yes.”

 

“Then you and I am going to cause some damage, but no one will be harmed.” Marai said. “Chose a series of nodes, and break them one by one. If they try to target others, strip them of power.”

 

I stood and watched as they spent five minutes with their eyes closed, looking ahead of them. Then Marai opened her eyes, looking at her student. That one opened her eyes after a moment.

 

“Now let us see how well you learn.” Marai said. Instead of running, we sauntered around the corner into the final entry corridor.

 

A guard ran toward us. “Look out! The turrets have gone active!” He screamed.

 

“They have?” Marai looked at him with that blank stare, then at the weapons. Every turret had slewed around at our approach, but now they were acting oddly. Some were cycling, solenoids trying to actuate, but no blaster bolts came down range. Others were targeting, then cycling onto another target as if the first had been hidden or destroyed. Others were slewing around as if the target was too large and it was trying to find a point of weakness. I felt a roar of laughter bubbling up in my chest, and bent forward.

 

“Maybe they are just malfunctioning.” The guard said. Then he looked at me. “Are you all right?”

 

“Yeah.” I gasped. “Indigestion.”

 

Marai held out her pass, and we went on into the docking quad.

 

“I think we will avoid coming down here for a while. When news of this reaches Vaklu, all hell is going to be out for noon.” I said.

 

We climbed in, did our preflight and got our authorization. We took off as alarm sirens went off across the city.

 

 

Vaklu

 

He looked at Tobin. The man was rumpled, but otherwise not to badly injured. “So they got away from you.” He said. “At least we now have proof that Jedi are involved...” He stopped. Tobin look like a child that hid been caught misbehaving. “Tell me we have proof, Colonel.”

 

“None of them used weapons. They beat me and the two squads with me using just their hands. No sensor records of weapons except our own. They distracted the squads outside the cantina by throwing money into the street. It is a poor neighborhood, and our men had been told to avoid civilian casualties. With no one shooting at them, they held their fire.

 

“The remainder of the company that were stationed near the entrance to the tram station reported just three of them, not four. So we do not even know who it was they met. But those three beat them all, again, with no weapons reported.”

 

Vaklu turned back toward the map table. Tobin made to speak, but his hand shot up. “Just get out of my sight, you incompetent fool.”

 

*****

 

We were above the atmosphere and in the traffic pattern before the first fighters came in. They knew it was a shuttle, but between sub orbital passenger shuttles and ones coming down from ships, we were invisible.

 

“What are you thinking.” Marai asked. She was sitting up front. The girl had curled up and gone to sleep.

 

“The waste.” I said. “If we had held just a little bit longer, all of this would have been ours.”

 

“I think we might have had something to say about that.” Marai commented dryly.

 

“The Republic thinks the Mando-a are no more. We have been beaten and scattered, but we have not yet lost. Revan knew that. She took our honor so that we would learn how precious it was. But she should have killed us all. Because as long as a single child can still claim Mandalorian blood, we will come back, and we will win.”

 

“So the Mandalorian wars will be over when all of you are dead.” She said. “All that does is keep the hate going.”

 

“Most of your people never understood my kind. To us honor is not a punch line to a joke. Glory is not something you earn from prancing about on a stage. Our lives revolve around battle. From our earliest history it has been so, and it will never change.”

 

“I found that all the glory in the world will not save those you care about.” She sighed. “And honor is poor fare when you sit at the table and see the empty chairs of those you have led for it that died. To me, to all of the Jedi that fought, it was a necessary evil. It was surgery on a galactic scale with ship’s cannon and lightsabers as scalpels. Too much good flesh was cut away in that, and we still suffer from it.”

 

“That is why I have assisted you. The honored dead must be remembered. The Republic has not even built a monument to hose that have died. They merely turned away as if forgetting would end it.

 

“But I will reunite the clans, and we shall take our rightful place again.”

 

“As what?” She snapped. “An enemy that will not admit defeat? You speak as if your entire race were a flu virus that dies yet comes back again the next season!”

 

“Then why did you fight?” I asked.

 

“What I thought then is not important.”

 

“We had not faced the Jedi in full cry as enemies since ancient times. We were unprepared for it. None realized the threat you represented. You were a member of the order, what to those of us not of that fellowship, what you know as fact is merely story legend or myth to us. We only knew from the ancient records.”

 

“But what of the war of Exar Kun?”

 

“By the time we had met him, he was Sith. You cannot judge the temper of a blade when it is rusted, or marred with blood that has not been cleaned. What we had to go on told us that you were nonviolent, devoted to taking care of those you watched over. We had met others of that stripe among the stars. They are easy to defeat because that noble compassion is a blade we can hold to their throats. We were wrong.” I shrugged. That pretty much explained our entire battle plan against the Republic.

 

She sat there, looking at the stars, lost in her thoughts. “What did you personally think of us?”

 

“Your people ran the gamut from the Mandalore that lived then down to Cassus Fett. From noble to ignoble. On the average, you people were cunning warriors, and sometimes brave to the point of insanity.”

 

“That is how we viewed the troops of the Republic. Not the Jedi, we considered you the greatest challenge. I mean the men you led in the latter part of the war.

 

“They were brave even from the beginning, but even the best troops can be wasted if those that command are venal or stupid. We slaughtered enough of them to prove it. When the Jedi first pulled back, we thought they would buckle under the pressure. That we would walk over them as you preached nonviolence. We saw it like trying to stiffen gelatin with buckshot.

 

“We were wrong. They came back like warriors reborn, and when we faced them, they proved their valor. All because you took a demoralized defeated rabble, and made them soldiers again. You brought the backbone the Republic command did not have. The leaders to command, the tactics and strategy that had us out of balance almost from the beginning. While Fett’s fleets were waiting on the front, you took Dxun, and not only took it, but beat him man to man. We thought that was stupid, but when the smoke cleared, we could no longer claim to the superior in all things. How many Jedi were there on the ground?”

 

“Eighty on the ground and ten pilots. All but ten of them died.”

 

Now I was silent. She was lost in thought. Maybe thinking of those empty seats. “Have you ever considered that it might have been better if we won?” She gave me a look that suggested I had been drinking heavily. “The Sith would have been a border conflict to us back then, a way to teach and blood troops. If we had attacked them instead of you, there would be no Sith.

 

“But if we had won against you, nothing in the Galaxy would have been able to stand against us. We would have given the entire Republic that backbone, and with the strength of those factories and the ships and weapons they would have produced, we would have cleaned up the galaxy for once.”

 

“What then?” She asked. I looked at her confused. “The galaxy is a finite space. Oh it is vast, and there are worlds yet to be discovered, but a nation built on nothing but war and expansion either is smashed, or wins. But what happens when they win?

 

“You would have conquered the last star, beaten the last enemy, and there would be nothing to fight from then on than your own kind. How soon would it be before the men of this planet decides to test himself against the men of that? The first Mandalore arose in such a confused situation. Clans warring and slaughtering not foreign enemies, but their own. It was he that aimed you outward before the Republic was even born. To learn the ways of the other peoples among the stars.

 

“Would that Mandalore in the future you dream of have been as wise?”

 

“Look what your victory has wrought.” I waved back toward the planet. “Don’t you think it might have been better if we had won?”

 

“I do not waste time on might have been. I live in the now that we both do.”

 

“The Republic was a bloated beast unable to even feed itself without help. It has not improved since the war. They have killed more of their citizens than we did, just not as quickly. If it were not for Revan’s strength and will the Republic would already be dead even without our help.”

 

“Compliments? For Revan?”

 

“Revan was the catalyst for the Jedi coming into the war. We had swept through the outer rim and to within three systems of Coruscant itself before she stopped us. She and those like you that she led were what beat us. Not that bloated monster you still worship. But we have little use for the Jedi.”

 

“Why? You seem to think highly of her and those like me.”

 

“The cream of a rancid milk. What, only a third of you had the stomach for the fight? The rest cowered in their temple and preached restraint.”

 

“It was not fear that held them back.” She said. “If the Council had agreed, it would have been over five thousand of us. Consider what barely a third of that number did.”

 

Dxun

 

Marai

 

Never mix violence and contemplation with someone who wants to reminisce about the wars we had fought. Trust me on that. We settled down, and rolled the shuttle into the hanger. “Well until Zuka can reset the transponder, we’re locked down.”

 

“Sorry.”

 

He grinned. “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. In fact, I was wondering. Do you have room aboard?”

 

“Why?”

 

“I want to go along. You can use the extra blaster, and I‘ve been meaning to find some of the lost clans.”

 

“That almost sounds altruistic.”

 

“Not part of my make up. Thanks to the Jedi Civil War, the Sith is resurgent. They aren’t the kind to leave well enough alone. If they don’t control it, they smash it. If the Jedi are gone for good, we need to be gathered in and ready for the worst.

 

Mandalorians served Exar Kun at the start of that war, his callous disregard is what caused us to become neutral, and finally ally against him.”

 

I was going to answer when my com link buzzed. “Marai here.”

 

“Well it’s about time!” Atton quipped. “We’ve been ready to go for about five hours, but couldn’t contact you.”

 

“We’ll be there in about three hours.” I looked at Mandalore, then added. “With some company.”

 

 

Enroute to Nar Shaddaa

 

Ebon Hawk

 

Marai

 

The three days to Nar Shaddaa were...interesting. We had to go there anyway, but I had another reason. With Peragus gone, Telos desperately needed fuel. The nearest supply after Peragus was Nar Shaddaa, and that meant dealing with the Hutt.

 

We had barely left, sitting down to dinner when problems began. The Mandalorians have what they call the Warrior’s story circle, where you sit and tell of your deed. As a newcomer, it would be impolite to throw yours out there unless asked, so it is custom to ask one of the others.

 

They share another quirk with the Echani. The idea that society is only warfare on another plane.

 

I was cook again. I think better when I cook, and had yet to hear a complaint. Visas got a bowl for herself and left. She was still leery of the others. Atton had seen Mandalore and gone back to the cockpit with his. Kreia had her meal delivered. That left Bao-Dur the Handmaiden Mandalore and myself. Mandalore grumbled about the food a bit, but brightened when I found some Pipalli spice. Bao-Dur coughed a bit at the sharp smell, but that didn’t stop him from eating. He had found a small sensor remote, and was looking over it’s innards as he ate.

 

“So Iridorian. You fought in the Mandalorian wars.”

 

“Yes, I did. I was a technician.”

 

“That gleam of anger at my existence says otherwise. You fought on the front lines.”

 

“A lot of times no one knew where the front lines were.” I replied.

 

“But there is honor in such battles. Come. Tell me of the battles you fought, and whom you fought alongside.”

 

“Honor.” Bao-Dur set down the remote, looking at him. I could feel his fury, but it had yet to explode. “I can do without such things as honor after seeing what fruit it bears. The destruction your warriors inflicted, the lives lost. All for honor.

 

“And look at your precious warriors. Thugs, mercenaries, bounty hunters. It seems another word for honor in the Mandalorian language is credits!”

 

Mandalore knocked back a shot of Tihaar. “I would chose my words more carefully if I were you.”

 

“Gentlemen...” I tried to interject.

 

“You fought out of bloodlust. You and all your kind aren’t happy unless you’re killing! Where is honor when you are knee deep in the blood of the innocent?”

 

“Maybe to some soft Republic slug it looked that way, but we went to war to prove our new generation, to find the honor and the glory in the heat of battle.”

 

“Gentlemen...” My tone was a bit firmer, but it did as little good.

 

“The Republic ignored us!” Mandalore snarled. “The finest warriors in the galaxy and we were ignored as if we were trained animals. Even outnumbering us they refused to fight for almost 13 years! We had to goad them!”

 

“You couldn’t be satisfied with what’s outside the Republic!” Bao-Dur roared. He stood quivering with fury. “My world fell to you, and it was devastated when it was liberated!”

 

“Thank Karath. He was in charge. It was he that ordered blasting every defense post, even those that were unmanned. Unmanned I would point out intentionally because your people built them near cities. We do not make war on civilians, but we honor the threat. He merely removed that threat even when they knew we would not man them.” Mandalore was standing, and it was two herd leaders facing off. “The Republic knew enough about us to know our ways, yet we get the blame when they caused such things!”

 

“The Mandalorians got what they deserved at Malachor! We should have erased you from history!”

 

“But we were not. And a warrior learns as much from his defeats as he does from his victories.”

 

“I am so glad you’re guarding my back with that attitude!”

 

“Enough!” I shouted. I stood, glaring at them both. “First, Bao-Dur, the Mandalorians attack only active defenses. They have their exceptions, and they are hated more by them than by us. If you read the history we destroyed as many planets as they did in that war.

 

Mandalore, most people in the Republic would rather that war be dead and buried. It is like an old wound that we don’t want to remember. So let it be, both of you.”

 

“Fine by me.” Mandalore returned to his meal. Bao-Dur snatched up the remote.

 

He started to storm out but paused at the door. “I hate your people. But it isn’t you I hate. I was a quiet young man that never hurt an insect. That thought every life was precious. You burned that away when you destroyed my home, you took that boy and turned him into a murderer little better than you are.

 

“I hate you because what I am now was made by you.”

 

I sighed, sitting back down. The handmaiden sipped her drink. “So every night will be a new foray into the brave world of indigestion?”

 

I chuckled.

 

*****

 

There isn’t much to do in hyperspace. Nothing beyond a large gravity field will reach into it, and you are perfectly safe as long as the hyper drive generator works. Ours was a bit ragged, but it worked.

 

I spoke with Visas, drawing her slowly from her shell. It was not something I expected to finish any time soon. I sparred with the handmaiden. She had a fluid grace that made the lightsaber a perfect weapon for her. With the weapons set on practice, we used every centimeter of the cargo hold.

 

Then there was Kreia.

 

She called me not long after we had lifted off, motioning for me to sit.

 

“If you must have both student and disciple, I had better train you more rapidly.” She said.

 

I took the seat for meditation. “You brushed the surface thoughts of the Miraluka. Since she is already partially trained, it was only a minor surprise. Those without the force are harder to touch so. Close your eyes. Silence your thoughts. think of the room of the Thousand Fountains.”

 

I saw it. A work of art given by a race we had saved almost 20,000 years ago, it represented every world that had been in the Republic at that time. Every one spraying in it’s own pattern, each unique. But so well designed that four times a day, they would all be exactly in synch, one massive beautiful spray for about ten minutes.

 

“Now still them. Make them silent. Imagine that the ice of Telos has frozen them in an instant. “

 

Suddenly they stopped. The room was deathly still.

 

“Good. Now listen about you. Not to your own thoughts, but to those about you.”

Visas knelt. I could hear her thoughts as if she spoke to me. Kreeon, Variala, Maris, Canalaro-

 

She repeats the names of her beloved dead. Her father, her mother, her brother and her sister.” Kreia sighed.

 

The handmaiden moved in a choreographed dance that was both beautiful and lethal. I could hear her; The form is the ocean, the rock, the wind, the flame. Every move has it’s perfect complement, every strike the perfect target. If faced with fire, use water, if faced with rock, use wind, each has it’s weakness.

 

Faster, I must be faster. If father had been swift, he would live today. Revan said he was worthy of respect. Was that because she had killed him? Or because he had fought as well as possible? If I were faster I would not be the last of the sisters. I would gain their respect. What must I do to earn that? Why does Atris treat me so?

 

Did Atris feel physical love for Marai? Is that why she offered to bond? Was it Marai that ran, or Atris that pushed? Why did she send me? This is far harder than anything I have been sent to do before. Yet it was I that was sent. My sister stay at home, they wait for my return. Perhaps when I do-

 

“What of your friend in the cargo hold?”

 

Bao-Dur finished linking the circuits, and the little remote drone hummed to life. It lifted, and for a moment he laughed, all of the pain and years fled and I could see the happy child he had been. The suddenly it was gone.

 

Why did we do it? Three million dead in less than ten seconds. We did it, General. You gave the order, I built it, but it was that bastard Quintain. I followed my orders, and now I see every face...

 

Kreia’s voice dragged me away.

 

“And what of our pilot?”

 

Atton was checking the systems as he did every hour. But his thoughts...

 

...Change the face of the variable one point card, totals nine-ten. Change the variable two point, total eight-eleven. Switch...

 

I shook my head. “What is...”

 

Can you hear me now?”

 

The difference between her mind contact with me at the beginning and now was astonishing. I could hear her as crisply as if she had spoken aloud. I reached toward her mind, and found myself thrust aside.

 

A master always has secrets she does not teach her student immediately. Leave it at that. She cleared her throat. “You take the first steps on a road that will never end.

 

“Why can’t I hear T3?”

 

“His thoughts are not really thoughts as we understand the term. They are programmed responses, and heuristic reaction loops. Like Bao-Dur it is better to read their actions rather than their words.”

 

“But I heard Bao-Dur!” I said.

 

She looked at me for a long moment. “It is odd that you heard him and I did not.”

 

“Perhaps it is because we served so long together. But Atton’s thoughts are confusing.”

 

She chuckled. “He counts Pazaak cards in his head, engine sequencing, trade routes, even allows his baser lusts to come to the fore. Be glad we did not have to listen to that. Perhaps the one I call fool is no fool at all.

 

“Yes perhaps our pilot has so much he would hide?”

 

That thought plagued me for over a day. I had just finished a workout with the Handmaiden, and came to check the Navi-computer. Atton was at the controls as always. I wondered if he even slept there.

 

“ETA about half an hour.”

 

“So precise.” I joked with him. “Perhaps if you didn’t play Pazaak in your head-”

 

“What?” His voice had not changed, but his entire aura did. I had gone from someone he knew to target.

 

“You play Pazaak in your head. Why?”

 

“A lot of piloting is reflex. So it helps pass the time. It’s not as boring to me as engine sequencing, trade routes, counting the ticks in the power couplings-”

 

“T3 and Bao-Dur fixed those.”

 

“Yeah, but I can still hear them sometimes.”

 

“But you do all of those things, according to Kreia.”

 

“Did she tell you of fantasies with you Visas or the Handmaiden? If she were a bit younger I might even be thinking of Kreia. She was a looker when she was young. I can tell. She still has the body for it.

 

“Maybe you just had to look for yourself-”

 

“Atton, she was teaching me a new skill and I happened to look into your mind once, and only once. I apologize. I promise I will never do it again.”

 

He looked at me. “Why bother? Jedi are all alike, dark side, light side, it doesn’t matter. You have to look and see what’s inside a man’s head. I knew it as a child, and I developed this so something in my life wasn’t common knowledge.”

 

“But why any of them?”

 

“Do you play Pazaak?”

 

I shrugged. “I know the rules, and how to play, but no, I do not. I don’t gamble with anything but my life.”

 

“Sit.” He walked back into the ship, and came back with his cards. He divided the deck, and shuffled each set. “Chose one.”

 

“But I don’t gamble.”

 

“A friendly game.” It was almost an order. I chose one, and we played.

 

I will not describe it to you. If you wish to learn Pazaak, then by all means get yourself a deck and play. I was beaten after about five hands.

 

“Now, what were you thinking about?”

 

“What?”

 

“While we were playing. What was on your mind?”

 

“Which variable card would be best to change on my next draw.” I replied instantly.

 

“That’s why I do it. I don’t have to lock the door to my thoughts if they can’t find it.”

 

“So this helps you seal your thoughts?”

 

“No, from what I’ve been told no one can totally shield their thoughts. But this makes it harder for someone to look.”

 

“Could you teach this to me?”

 

“Not unless you really want to get good at Pazaak.”

 

“I am not that desperate.”

 

“All right new rule. Some Jedi are polite about it.” He turned back to the controls. “Get everyone together, we’ll be there in a few, and we had better discuss the problem.

[machievelli]

In Orbit of Nar Shaddaa

 

Marai

 

Atton had brought up the planet and moon. “There you have it people. Nar Shaddaa. The gaping maw of the of Nal Hutta, and everything that travels through half of known space comes through here first. Home to Mandalorian and other mercenaries, refugees, and the biggest criminal syndicates in the Galaxy. If you want it, you can get it here.”

 

“Too many of my people can’t find their way back to their honor.” Mandalore growled. “They have become little better than thugs.”

 

“That happened to a lot of soldiers after the wars.” I said. “They couldn’t go back to their lives, and this defines them now.”

 

“Nar Shaddaa is a great place to get lost in, though.” Atton commented. “Traffic in and out is so thick that a ship can slip in and out unnoticed if they do it right. A man on the ground who wants to hide has millions of kilometers of buildings and billions of people to pull over him.” He touched a control. “But if this guy you’re looking for is anywhere, I’d say it’s here. The Refugee Sector.”

 

“The refugee sector?”

 

“Yeah, a lot of people were displaced by the wars. Some couldn’t get to somewhere decent, and they ended up here. The Hutt allow it because it’s a ready source of manpower for factories and warehouses. Something like half a million people crammed into old condemned cargo containers and living on what they can beg. If your Jedi wants to hide, that’s the place.” He switched shots, this time giving us a look at landing pads scattered around it. “It used to be one of the cargo handling areas, so there are pads for everything from freight lighters to ships half again our size. Right now, that one is empty.”

 

“Sounds like you’ve been here before.” I commented.

 

“Anyone whose been on the wrong side of the law at one point or another has been here. Along with every spacer who has ever worked more than a year.” He shrugged. “Once we’re on the ground, no one will spot us, that I can guarantee.”

 

“Then take us down.”

 

*****

 

Goto’s Yacht

 

The meeting was quiet. Not because the people there wanted to be, but because Goto wanted peace and quiet aboard his ship. He tended to deal with loud voices by making them silent.

 

The top bounty hunters were represented and no one else. Everyone below these representatives had already gotten the word of what this meeting was about, only these were considered important enough to need personal attention.

 

The largest group were the Zhug family. Duros hate moving in small groups, and they were uncomfortable in groups less than eight or ten. The fact that only three were here was proof of Goto’s power within the Exchange. The HK 50s, were there. Who had built them and why they had started working as Bounty Hunters was unclear. There were three of them as well, but they usually had enough firepower to smash the entire ship. However Goto had been smart enough to order their hard-points emptied for this meeting. Now they could only kill everything in the room.

 

Zora and Kaliea, the Twi-lek pair nicknamed the Twin suns lounged languorously. They always seemed amused, though usually only death would make them happy.

 

Finally Hanharr, the wookiee. The average wookiee is two and a half meters tall, Hanharr was a giant of his kind. He wore slave bracelets, a fashion statement that no one in his right mind questioned. After all, he might rip off the top of your head to see if he could find what suicidal impulse caused you to ask.

 

A black spherical battle droid floated in, passed them and turned. Then a hologram appeared. The man was an older human, long sideburns surrounding a chin that was smooth shaven. Goto, one of the most feared of the Exchange’s leaders.

 

“It has come to my attention that the Jedi is approaching Nar Shaddaa as we speak.”

 

There was a tightening of tension in the room. So much money-

 

“However my businesses cannot handle a Jedi’s scrutiny at this time. So until she departs, the contract is in abeyance. She has been given a round trip ticket.” The head turned, looking at each group in turn. “Track her, observe her habits so you may catch her later. But if you eclipse her movements while she is on this moon, I will eclipse yours.”

 

Why?” Hanharr roared. “A fortune walks among us and you expect our hands to remain empty?”

 

“One Jedi is nothing of importance, but there are others you could be hunting if you bestir yourselves. But if a Jedi dies or disappears here, it will bring others until not even you can kill that fast.” Goto looked at the wookiee blandly. “Hunt her here, and your fellows will be glad to hunt you afterward. That is all.” The hologram vanished, and the droid left the room.

 

“Goto’s head is full of madness!” Azanti Zhug almost screamed. “There are few enough Jedi in the world that this one has no army to call any more.”

 

Kaliea looked at him with the disdain only a Twi-leki woman can do so well. “Oh please, you slug eating freak. Hunt her against Goto’s wishes. My sweet sister and I would love to add you to our trophy belt. And your family will give you up to stay alive.”

 

“Besides, it is not as if she intends to live here.” Zora added. “She will leave, and the beautiful one will be caught by us eventually. Patience is a dancer’s art after all.”

 

“Yes.” Hanharr growled. “Let the Duros hunt her. When I am through all of your heads will be on my trophy wall!”

 

“Never utter a threat you cannot carry out, animal. You may be the best in a forest, but among the more intelligent races out here you are a stupid child. You cannot even capture that red maned girl you owe a life-debt to. What is it, two or three times she has beaten the great Hanharr-”

 

Hanharr leaped to his feet. “Goto or no Goto. Speak of her again and I will carve my way through all of your family!”

 

“Request:” They all looked at the leader of the HKs, number 17. “If Goto’s vessel is no longer considered neutral ground, would one of you creatures make such a statement, or draw a weapon? We would not violate the truce but if it is no longer valid, we have contracts on all of you.” Weapons began to slide out of metal arms.

 

“We are not so stupid machine.“ Zora commented. “Our orders are clear.”

 

“A thought my dear love.” Kaliea mused. “we are allowed to defend ourselves even within the truce.”

 

“Observation: Jedi seem to be programmed with tolerance and nonviolence. It is statistically unlikely that she will strike at us first.”

 

“True.” Kaliea said. “But while Goto has given strict orders about the Jedi, he has said nothing about her companions.”

 

They all looked at her. “And there are those that say you are the stupid one.” Azanti said. Both women looked at him, and he was glad for the truce.

 

“Not unless they are under truce, fool.” Zora said. “The last that said that died screaming in agony.”

 

“Yes, it was a sweet afternoon of pleasure for me. I do so love to hear them whimper.” Kaliea said with a sharpened grin.

 

 

Nar Shaddaa

 

Atton

 

I stepped out, taking a deep breath. “Just smell that! The beautiful stench of decay and desperation.” The others came out with varying degrees of reaction to it. The three that flinched the least were Mandalore Marai and of all people, Visas. I moved her from the ‘maybe dangerous’ list to the ‘watch your back’ list.

 

“This moon literally teams with life.” Kreia said softly. “It is difficult to center yourself in such a place.”

 

Visas was turning her head, a hound catching an elusive scent. “Never have I felt a world so alive to the force, yet dead to it. The contrast is like the back of a blade compared to it’s edge.”

 

“Well welcome anyway. Buildings almost three kilometers tall, and canyons so wide you can almost dogfight in them. Be careful where you step. You might never find the ground again.”

 

Marai was looking around. She was unconsciously mimicking Visas. “Will this pad be safe?”

 

“If it doesn’t belong to a Hutt or a Corp, no one cares about the pads. Since this is technically refugee territory, that benign neglect is heavy.” I stamped, and everyone winced as the pad shuddered slightly. I grinned. “Don’t worry. If it was going to fall, we would have caught it when the engines shut down.”

 

“Yeah.” Bao-Dur said in a whisper. “Too late to stop us from taking the plunge.”

 

“Hey, you don’t like risks, why are you with us?”

 

“I don’t like the exposure.” Marai mused. She pace, looking at the pad. It was half again the size of the Ebon Hawk. “Clear fields of fire all around. A fighter swarm could take us out without scratching the paint on the buildings.”

 

“Never happen.” I said. “We didn’t transmit our ID code on the way in, so unless they had eyes on us every second, they won’t know which pad to hit.”

 

Marai looked at me. “Tell me you cleared us through traffic control.”

 

“Well, I kinda forgot.” I raised a hand before she could explode. “You wanted to find this Jedi master whatever-”

 

“Zez-Kai Ell.” She replied.

 

“Yeah, whatever. If he wanted to hide where no one would find him, this is the first place to look.”

 

“That does not explain why you did not notify traffic control.”

 

“Do you think every smuggler signals ‘hey here I come with my illegal cargo‘? Don’t bet on it. If you’re not using a corporate or Hutt landing pad, they couldn’t care less. Besides, I know a guy here that can get us a new transponder signature. There are something like eight of them in the computer, but T3 says they’re all voice locked. I for one want to take that big bulls eye off my back.”

 

“Then let’s move out.”

 

“All right oh fearless leader. Where do we move out to?” I waved theatrically. After all, I knew this area, she didn’t.

 

“It doesn’t matter where we go.” Kreia said softly. “What we seek will find us eventually.”

 

“Listen if you want to sit and mediate then by all means do it and leave us out of it.” I snarled at her.

 

She gave me that disdainful look. “What I am saying you young fool is that this is not a hunt that has easy marks to follow. Finding one touched by the force here is like trying to pick one leaf from a tree a kilometer away. The masses of people here are something few will be able to see through.”

 

“The moon is a swirling cloak of thought fear and deed.” Visas breathed. “Any with the force can pull it over them like a blanket. But if I get close enough to him-”

 

“What will you do then?” The Handmaiden hissed. “I will not let you near him, witch.”

 

Visas turned her head toward the girl. “I seek him because Marai does, woman.” She waved toward our leader. “You think I still answer to the one who murdered my home, but it is her I serve. This Jedi means nothing to me but if finding him speeds her search, I will seek him.”

 

“We do not need your help-“

 

“Silence.” Kreia snapped. “Arguing will not make the moon smaller, or the people fewer. This is a good place to start.”

 

They all looked at Marai.

 

“All right, Atton, you and the Handmaiden with me. Visas, do you mind doing the shopping for food?”

 

“I am here to serve.”

 

“Then you and Kreia can do that.”

 

“She can’t even see the spots on the vegetable!” I wailed.

 

“Do you want to fetch and carry with her Atton? No? Then table the argument. Mandalore, will you and Bao-Dur go check out the chandlers at the docks?”

 

“I will also check the mercenary listings. My people must know I am here, and where to go.”

 

“Do that. While you are at it, watch for bounty hunters. If I can I will have that bounty lifted before we leave this rock.”

 

What-re you doing on my pad?” a voice growled. The figure flying toward us was a Toydarian, wings buzzing like a demented hummingbird, elephantine snort writhing. “What do you think you’re doing landing on my pad like this?” As small as he was, he was as belligerent as most of his race were.

 

“It’s a landing pad. Ship’s land on landing pads.”

 

“Whoever told you that you had a sense of humor lied.” He snarled back. “I got another ship coming in the next day or so, and they already reserved that bloody pad there.” He pointed sharply at the pad to emphasize the last four words. “So push off!”

 

“A day or so?” Marai looked at him. “How about we pay for the day or so we’re here?”

 

“Oh, and what makes you think I’ll-”

 

“Fifty credits.”

 

“Done! But I would suggest you be gone before the Red Eclipse arrives. They aren’t known for their sense of humor.”

 

“Neither are Toydarians.”

 

“Hey, you want humor, go watch humans walk. Now push off.”

 

“I can find us another pad a bit farther down if necessary.” I said.

 

“Then let’s get to it, people.”

 

 

Marai

 

The Hutt had spread through their area of space and made themselves a tidy little empire not by being the suppliers or manufacturers. Not even by military might, though the Hutt tended to arm their ships as a matter of course. They built that empire by being the middle men in every transaction. Back in the mists of history they had polluted their original home world into uselessness, and moved to Nal Hutta ‘Gleaming Jewel’ in their language. Since they didn’t want to ruin this planet, they had built a series of warehouses and offices on the moon Nar Shaddaa.

 

Now it was a mass of building rising kilometers into the sky. They had imported workers, managers, security forces and every other necessity. And of course, such a place caused crime to flourish.

 

No one in their right mind would deal with the Hutt if they could avoid it, but I was desperate. Telos had only a few months before Citadel Station fell. It was my fault in a way, and I had to correct it.

 

A pair of goons were bothering a man in tired old clothes, They left when they saw our expressions.

 

“Thank you.” The man whispered. “The Exchange is keeping us trapped in the Refugee housing sector.”

 

“Why?”

 

“We don’t know. It started about two years ago. Suddenly a Quarren named Visquis sent out goons, and the word was spread that if you wanted to work, he was your manager. Anyone who refused, well, let’s just say they were beaten into submission, or disappeared. If you wanted to work, you went to his hiring hall.” He waved vaguely toward the door ahead. “You go where you are sent, work as many hours as they say, and all but enough to keep body and soul together goes to Visquis.

 

“Then it got worse. About a year ago, Visquis started offering people a way off the planet. But you had to pay. Those that could pay just left. But no one has ever come back to tell us where they were going. Fathers would go to find a place for the family, and never mail any word. Parents would send their children to relatives, but the relatives say they never got there.

 

“I wanted out, but I don’t want to get out the way Visquis allows. So I slipped by the guard on the refugee housing door. But they caught me.”

 

I handed him some money. “Go, get out of here while you have the chance.”

 

“Thank you.” He looked like he was going to cry. He ran.

 

“And what good did that do?” Kreia asked. “You yourself told the Handmaiden that no one is rich enough in time money or resources to help everyone. Why waste it on him?”

 

“Kreia, I can’t just let people be abused. When I see it, and can help, I do.”

 

“Like throwing money to the crowd? Was that selflessness, or self interest?”

 

I shook my head. We reached the door into the refugee sector. Atton tapped my arm. “I know a guy who can get us a new ID transponder. I’ll talk to him. Wait here.”

 

The rest scattered on their own missions. The Handmaiden and I stood, waiting. There was a hiss from the shadows, and a nightmare of the Jurassic age stepped out. A Trandoshan. He stopped hands out and up to show that he was unarmed.

 

“A word, Jeedai.” He hissed. I motioned, and he approached. “You are very brave or very foolish, Jeedai. To land on Nar Shaddaa is to rest from your travels on the tongue of a Krayt Dragon.”

 

“I landed here because I must. You are?”

 

“Vossk. One of the Bounty Hunter’s Guild. But no more. They are no longer the Guild I swore to. They are now cowards and honorless betrayers of a proud ideal.”

 

I considered. Considering the backlogs in the Republic courts, and the inability of law enforcement of different planet to even agree on what was illegal, a lot of crime went unpunished. Back not long after the Republic was formed, the Bounty Hunter’s Guild was formed to capture as many of these criminals as possible. The Bounty ranged from a few hundred credits to several thousand, and a lot of them were ’dead or alive’ because the people being chased were sometimes cold blooded killers. But soon it became a way to kill someone you might be angry at. A lot of people assured the dead or alive merely because while the pay might be different (In most cases you got only half as much if you brought in a corpse) it was simpler to merely kill them.

 

“These days there are few that bring in their quarry alive. The Guild has become a license to kill anyone and everyone. Few in the guild take pleasure in the hunt and the capture. Now they glory only in death.”

 

“It sounds as if you hate them.”

 

“Hate? No. There have always been that kind in the Guild. But the leaders here on Nar Shaddaa are all of that sort. Except for a few the Guild Laws are spat upon now as often as not. But there are some only a fool will ignore.

 

“A contract is honored if accepted. It can be set aside only by asking the one that issued it. When you hunt, if you discover another has already begun their hunt, you may both hunt the same prey, but are not allowed to kill the opposition.”

 

It made a sick perverted sense when you thought about it. If you agreed to hunt someone, only the one issuing the contract could revoke your part in it. The prey belonged to the one that caught him. I said as much.

 

“But the fools are caught in the words they cannot disavow. Every major bounty hunter on the smuggler’s moon have accepted contract for Jeedai. They have been told there is one here on Nar Shaddaa, and they hunt fruitlessly. Almost five years it has been, and they cannot leave the moon because it was worded so in their contracts.

 

“But you have come. They would now seek you if the contracts had not been put in abeyance.”

 

“What?”

 

“The word has come down that you are to be left alone. Why I do not know. They must watch you like a tree-leaper of my world, but cannot leap to attack. They are getting... more frustrated.”

 

“How can I find out who has put a bounty on Jedi?”

 

“Simple. Let a Bounty Hunter take you, he will take you to whomever it is.”

 

“I had hoped to avoid that.”

 

“Hope is a currency of little value here. Make them come from the shadows. If you could I would say get them to break the law and hunt each other, but that might not happen. If nothing else, break the truce that keeps them from hunting you here. Credits are the lifeblood of the guild.

 

“If all else fails, make trouble. If someone were to issue a contract on you, not as a Jedi, but as a person. it would cause some to take the chance. Even with the truce there are ways around it. They could get you to attack them, say. If you did, the Laws and the Truce allow for self defense.”

 

“I may have to deal with someone from the Exchange. Would that do?”

 

He hissed in a pattern I recognized as a laugh. “Leaping into the mouth of a Thunder-Beast will gat his attention, but the Exchange is like that animal. Only a fool wants it’s attention. But they have enough money to pay for a bounty. Surely enough to break the truce.”

 

“Say they come after us, any idea who will try?”

 

“Try? Any bounty hunter worth the name. Succeed? There are few you need to worry about.

 

“There is a nest of Gand that came here right before the Bounty was set. They are confusing to other races, but as hunters they are excellent. They will hunt you anywhere and everywhere, and they have yet to fail.

 

“There are the Twi-lek pair called the Twin Suns. Zora and Kaliea, beautiful and deadly like a well made blade. Their master on Ryloth tortured them, and it warped their minds. They danced for him one final time, doing an Echani Saber dance. When his body was found, the master was sliced thousands of times. They enjoyed that feeling of power, and now they hunt merely to feed the thrill again.

 

“Then there is the Zhug ‘Family‘. Banished from Duros. It is said they tried to overthrow the government, and fled the failure with only their lives. Azanti Zhug swears that when he gets the credits, they will return with an army and take the planet. Like the Gand there are hundreds of them grouped in separate clans beneath the Zhug name.

 

“A year ago droids of a series made by Systech suddenly entered the market. They are supposedly HK50 models.”

 

“We have dealt with a few.”

 

“They hunt, but why they do not simply walk away from the contract is unclear. The number of them here on the smuggler’s moon are unknown.

 

“Then of course there are Hanharr and Mira. But the only thing that keeps them both alive is the truce. Hanharr is a Wookiee. Taken as a slave from his home world long ago. He killed the Czerka slavers, took their ship, and stopped here. But like the Twin suns, it has warped him. He now hunts exclusively humans. When he captures them, he sells them into slavery after brutalizing them. Only one has ever been caught and escaped. That one is Mira.

 

She escaped from him in this very moon, and to this day, know one knows how. She had taken her first contract as a bounty hunter before she was found, the second one she took was to hunt the Jeedai and only that kept her alive.

 

“Hanharr has hunted Mira since she escaped from him here on the moon, and only that truce keeps him from killing her. He has sworn to hunt her until the stars die of cold. But of all it is her I admire the most.”

 

“A human?”

 

“She is before anything else, a hunter. She does not hunt for the kill. She accepts more contracts where the target is returned alive than any I have seen in decades. She kills rarely, but does not glory in it. To her it is something to be avoided.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Good hunt, human. You are the kind that deserves a decent hunt.” He moved away.

 

“What an odd perspective.” The Handmaiden said.

 

“Not really.” I replied. “Have you ever hunted?”

 

“Yes, we needed to eat on Telos after all.”

 

“Which hunt satisfied you the most? The one where you went out, shot it and brought it home? Of the one where the animal made you work for it?”

She nodded. “He is like a master sword maker. He disdains the mass produced garbage that drive him from business because any idiot can plunk down a few credits for one that has been mass produced.”

 

Atton returned, and reported that while his friend could still make us a transponder, he needed a clean navigational chip to do it on, and they were in short supply.

 

Suddenly I staggered;

 

I was home free. The crew of the ship that had landed had intervened, and all I had to do was get to the shuttle station. The money the woman had given me was enough to-

 

Three figures stepped from the shadows. I recognized one of Visquis’s men as the stunner hit me. “You will love where we’re sending you.” He hissed.

 

Kreia’s voice was suddenly there. “See? The force binds everything. The slightest touch the smallest gift or the least harm reverberates through it.

 

“Your act freed him, but those that seek him were angered. In reaction he has been chosen for a fate worse than any death you can possibly imagine. If he had stayed in the Refugee housing, he would have survived. They have not stooped to kidnapping yet. All you and he did was guarantee that he would become a target, for the Exchange does not let go it’s power for anything.

 

“In the end, all you have wrought is more pain. They might have merely beaten him back to his nest. That is my lesson for you today.

 

I snapped back to the here and now. Atton and the Handmaiden were looking at me in shock. I shook my head, but I vowed I would find him and free him.

 

 

Twin Suns

 

They stood together, watching the woman and her companions across the Refugee sector.

 

“I want to taste her.” Kaliea purred. “She is so close. I want to taste her flesh, her blood...”

 

Zora had to admit that her sister in death was downright stupid. But she danced well, and no one was more single minded on the hunt. “Patience, my sister. There is so much to savor in the hunt. Have you chosen?”

 

Kaliea pouted. “How about the young man with her?” She asked. “He looks like he will be fun in more ways than one.”

 

“Yes... That one.”

 

 

Ship rights

 

Marai

 

I was in a pensive mood as we walked on. Had my kindness doomed that poor man? Someone stood in front of us, and he had the triumphant look of someone that knew he was right.

 

“You landed an hour or so ago. In the Ebon Hawk.”

 

“Yes we did.”

 

“Then this is for you.” He held out a chip in a reader. I took it, and my blood ran cold. “You are filing a claim for the ship?”

 

“What?” Atton snatched the reader from my hands. “You can’t take it! That’s our ship, not yours!”

 

“Was I talking to you, jet jockey? I can prove that ship is mine, and the court says I can repossess it. If you refuse, I call the authorities, and they fly combat patrol over your head until we get to court.” He smirked. “Around here, that can take decades.”

 

As Atton sputtered, I hand the reader back to him. “That is all well and good, but you must have some sort of proof that it is your ship.”

 

“Her registry number is 34-P7JK. She’s got a temperamental flow regulator in the portside engine, and her Hyper drive has tuners that won’t stay aligned. Her turrets are good for long range, but they refuse to track fast enough on close ranged fast targets.” He enumerated the secret compartments, all five of them.

 

“So that was how Visas got aboard unnoticed.” I murmured.

 

“Wait a minute!” Atton looked at me as if I were stealing his dessert. “He could have found out about all of that from somewhere else. That doesn’t prove he owned her. Maybe he sold her or lost her gambling! I think he’s skifting us.”

 

“Dream on punk.” He looked back at me. “She was stolen almost ten years ago now, right before the Jedi Civil War. I heard some Exchange big wig named Davik Kang had bought her about seven years ago, but Taris got blasted before I could get there. But I don’t have to chase her anymore, do I? Give her up or see me in court.”

 

“Could we buy her? Rent her?”

 

“Lady you haven’t got enough credits to get a test flight. That ship is one of the fastest in the Galaxy, and she’s worth her weight in spice.”

 

I sighed. “All right, you can take possession tomorrow morning.”

 

“What!” Every outburst before this had been merely a summer breeze. This was a squall of hurricane proportions. Atton glared at me. “She’s my ship! Well, she’s your ship that I fly...”

 

“Can it, pilot. The bosses are trying to have a conversation.” He looked back at me. “You aren’t going to steal her again?”

 

“No.”

 

He smiled, and suddenly I found I liked him. “Name’s Ratrin Vhek. Once I’ve checked her out, come and see me. I would be glad to carry you to your next destination if you leave before sunset tomorrow.”

 

“I will try to be done with what we must do by then.”

 

As he strode away, the Handmaiden came closer. “Are you sure you wish to do this? You have taken our seven day deadline and shortened it to but one. We cannot guarantee that we will find the Jedi master in that short a time. If we do not, we will be stranded here.”

 

“We cannot just steal it from him.” I replied meekly. “I will find a way.”

 

“Find a way?” Atton laughed raggedly. “I can put a round in his back from here and no one will know we shot him!”

 

“Atton, restraint is the key.” She said piously. “Besides if pain is what you wish to cause there is a neck strike that will incapacitate him in blinding pain for a week if properly done.”

 

He grinned. “Point taken. Will you administer it or shall I?”

 

“Play nice, children.” I admonished.

[Emperor Devon]

Another excellent chapter, machievelli. You did a very good portrayal of Ratrin. I thought he was enough of a ******* in the game. I dislike him ever moreso now.

[machievelli]

Confrontation

 

Mira

 

I watched her through my scope. If I were like the rest of the lowlifes in the guild, one touch would have spread her head all over the landscape. Most Jedi I remembered were old toothless relics spouting peace and love. She looked... almost cute. The Jedi had definitely raised their standards.

 

“I just hope it’s me that takes you.” I whispered. “It would be a pity to blow you to hell instead.”

 

MY wrist control tingled, and I looked down my back trail. There was a darker blot of shadows there. “Hanharr. I thought I smelled something more rank than normal. I told you before. Hunt your own targets, not mine. And stop following me or I will get nasty.”

 

“You are my prey, female. Always.”

 

“Remember the truce? Until we bag the Jedi, no one gets to kill another Bounty Hunter. I know living around the Hutt has burned out what little mind you have, but have you lost it all?”

 

“Maybe I forget truce. Become a mad claw again. Seeing you die by centimeters will make me happy before I die.” He took a step and there was a little flash in front of him.

 

“Yeah, maybe you take one step too many, and the mines in that box your in all go off. I haven’t threatened you, but you can’t keep your mouth shut about how much you want me dead.” I lifted the controller on my left wrist. “If I press this, you’re a splotch on the pavement, and no one will even think it was anything but self defense.”

 

“Like the life debt-”

 

“Damn you I don’t care about your life debt. If I had known you would have gone so ape over it I would have left you in that hole!”

 

“Then you make mistake. The stupid make only one mistake on my world. I can smell your fear stink from here.”

 

“Of course I’m afraid you moron! If I trigger all those mines the rockets in my launcher might go up to! I don’t want to see you dead, but I will if you push it one more time. But getting killed along with you is not part of the bargain if I can avoid it.” I looked at him bleakly. “But if I have to die to escape, I will. I will not let you put me in shackles again.”

 

I think if he could have guaranteed taking me with him he would have charged. He backed away. “It is not time for you to enter the Shadowlands yet, female. But when you do it will be my hands around your throat, looking into your eyes as you die.” He backed away.

 

I took out my climbing line rigged a squib, and abseiled down the wall as fast as I could. I would have to contemplate killing that big shag rug. I just wasn’t looking forward to it.

 

Whispers in the void

 

Marai

 

I was trying to figure what to do about a ship, when suddenly I felt something.

 

Hunger. Never fed, never nurtured, the cries of thousand that died every day on this planet just nature taking it’s course, but here they could almost speak.

Again Kreia was there. “Your thoughts are disturbed. Even if I were half the galaxy away I could hear such a cry.”

“What is it?” I asked mentally

“If you stripped all of the metal and manmade things from it, this is what would remain on Nar Shaddaa. It is the real Nar Shaddaa. The hopes dreams and agonies of everyone that lives or has lived here.”

“I understand that it is alive. But it feels so... desperate.”

“Considering all of the damage that had been done before we met, I am surprised you can feel it at all. As for desperation why does that surprise you? From the first this has been a desperate place. Those who came here were not looking for their paradise, they came here because there was no alternative. Either work here or die. Those descended from them know nothing but that despair, a every new life merely adds to it.”

“Can it be healed?”

She chuckled. “You might as well try to heal a star about to go supernova, or put a bandage on the galaxy. But at the right time and the right place, with the Force directed in just the right manner, such manipulation is possible. But it is like unto cutting a diamond. There is the one point in it’s matrix where you must strike. If you chose wrong, the crystal lays shattered and worthless. If you chose right, the echoes of your act spreads like ripples in a pond, touching the entire mass, and making the cheap stone a work of beauty and art.”

 

“I am not interested in controlling or manipulating!”

 

“Are you so blind? Even placing a simple bandage on a wound is an act of manipulation. cleaning the germs from it, sewing it closed, using synthflesh, all are manipulations of what is. Even healing requires that you look at it in perspective.

 

“Just by existing at this moment, you are manipulating events. What is the old saying of the masters? To stand and do nothing is also an action? Teachers manipulate with the words they say. The example you set manipulates your followers. Every time you fight someone you have influenced hundreds, just as that ripple from a small stone touches all

 

“For that matter what can we say of you? Your actions here, aboard the ship, even back to your birth affected others. Now it is your companions, and in them your have awakened them to the truth you believe. The first to fall was the Handmaiden, who betrayed her oath to ask for your guidance. The Seer who would have died gladly at you hand, and now lives only to serve you abjectly. Even Atton and Bao-Dur feel it.

 

“But come. This is a moment to treasure, and words will merely obscure it.”

 

 

Marai

 

I chose a quiet diner, and we ate. I didn’t know what to do about the ship, and on top of that, there were the actions of the Exchange. I knew our teachings, and if Zez-Kai Ell were here, he would have done something about it.

 

So either he was not near the Refugee sector, or he was dead. I could see no other reason for his inaction.

 

That meant our deadline was gone. We would board the ship, have Ratrin Vhek drop us on Dxun, and relax for a few days before whatever Kavar had planned went down.

 

Bao-Dur and Mandalore came back from the dock. Bao-Dur was a little upset that I had given up the ship after all the work he had put into it. Mandalore was willing to get us to Dxun if necessary. He’d found almost a hundred Mandalorians that had been working as a co-op that were glad to relocate to Dxun. But they weren’t going to be able to leave until after our original deadline anyway.

 

Kreia merely smiled, and said ‘the force would provide’.

 

“I found a place to get fuel for Telos.” Atton commented. He had gone for a drink. In the mood I was in I didn’t go because i would have dived in and never come out.

 

“Oh?” Maybe a bright spot!

 

“Yeah, one of the locals, Vogga the Hutt controls a lot of tankers, and he buys fuel for his fleet at Sleheryon. For a little taste, he’d send more than they could ever use.”

 

“Somehow I know there is a but to that statement.” The Handmaiden was eating in that neat precise manner she had, back straight, small bites, each chewed thoroughly before the next.

 

“Yeah there is. And it’s a doozy. One of the Exchange bigwigs operates out of here. Goto.”

 

“The same Goto Luxa spoke of?”

 

“Yes. Vogga did something to tick him off, and since then his outbound ships have been pirated on a regular basis. Vogga is like a lot of Hutt, they want to keep their business literally at arm’s length. So every ship that picks up a cargo anywhere where ever it is bound is required to come here for instructions or to report.

 

“He’s tried everything I can think of from what I heard. Fake transponders, different company logos, even different Hutt, but everything that has come into the system in the last four months only leaves to disappear.”

 

“So how do we see him?” I asked.

 

“There’s only one I can think of, but you’re not going to like it.”

 

“I am already not liking it. Speak.”

 

“He has a thing for dancing girls, and for some reason he’s off Twi-leki ones. He wants anything but Twi-leks. If you can dance, you can get in. Otherwise he won’t talk unless you have more credits than we can come up with. Or if you’re willing to accept a bounty.”

 

“On who?”

 

“Who else? Goto eats a plasma round, and Vogga will ship the first shipload of any kind of cargo anywhere in the galaxy on him.”

 

It might almost be worth it, I thought. “No. We will deal with the Refugee sector this evening, and tomorrow afternoon, we will speak with Ratrin Vhek.

 

“The refugee sector.” Atton looked at Bao-Dur, then at Mandalore. “We will deal with the Refugee sector?” The last was said as if I had said ‘we will put out the sun‘.

 

“I believe Zez-Kai Ell must be dead.” I said. “Because every fiber of my being screams for me to help them, and he has not. If he is dead, we can leave tomorrow morning. But I will see this abomination cleaned from the planet it I have to die.” I looked at them all. “No one worthy of the title Jedi could stand here and watch this happen. I will not.”

 

“But the Exchange...” Atton’s protests died. I do not know what he saw in my face, but he was silent.

 

“Visas, you are with me. Atton?” I looked at him. “Will you go or is there some one with the stomach for it aboard?”

 

I saw him first furious with me, how dare I impugn his manhood. “I’ll follow you.” He said woodenly.

 

Visas checked her weapons. We had not found another lightsaber for her, but she was satisfied with a vibro-sword. I stalk toward the entryway to the Refugee berthing. There were guards from the Exchange, but just the look on my own face was sufficient to back them away. I stalked down the ramps from the common refugee section to the Refugee berthing area.

 

The words used had not described the squalor. Picture three people vying for the same cubic meter of space, multiplied by the hundreds that were packed in like animals headed for the slaughter. I saw one off by himself. Of all he was not pressed in like travelers at rush hour. I went toward him and he waved me away weakly. “Go away.” He coughed. “I may be contagious.”

 

“Do you think I care?” I asked. I opened my medpac. I set the thermometer tape on his head. He had a high fever. I touched his tongue, and put the swab in the sensor. Iridian plague. Part of me clenched at the thought. 80 percent exposed catch it, 90 percent who catch it die, even with medical care.

 

I pulled out the multi-spectrum antibiotic. It would help, but there were no guarantees. “This will ease it.” I told him. “But if you are not lucky...”

 

He chuckled weakly. “My luck is that you came by. If I die, it is just the odds.” He picked up a small bundle. “Here. For your trouble.”

 

“But I may have failed!”

 

“You didn’t fail to care.” he husked.

 

I took the bundle, sticking it in my pouch.

 

“It’s nice to know that the old Jedi code means something.” Atton quipped

 

I spun, glaring at him. “I may have saved his life, but even he knows the odds are all I did was ease his death.” I stalked over, poking him in the chest. “I give because others need. Not because it is what the code says. Not because I feel I must. Not even to ease my own conscience! I give because I know in my heart that to pass one like him by and ignore him is the worst sin for one such as I.” I stalked past him.

 

To the people immured in this hell, my first act was as bright as if I made the sun come out in the evening. They came to me, and as I walked through I heard their pleas. My husband is missing... Someone promised a ship, but hasn’t come back... They took my daughter... I need a job...

 

I found myself kneeling, and while I made no sound I could feel my heart and soul keening with the loss. Not my loss but theirs impressed on me as I walked through the crowd. Everywhere around me people with no hope, with no future. I wanted to scream, to fall on my back and die rather than take another second of it. I wanted to empty my purse, the ship’s accounts, to roll up my sleeves and give, even knowing it would never be enough.

 

Visas stood back, and from her I could feel an overwhelming pity. She had been shown this by her master. The blight humanity was on the stars, and she was wondering how I would see the same scene. Atton was just Atton. I might as well have been walking through the market for all the reaction I got.

 

A hand extended before my face. A cup was in it, and I could smell tea. “It isn’t much compared to what you have given. But is all the thanks we can offer.” A voice said.

 

I knelt, drinking the weak tea. I knew the taste oh so well. You have one tea bag, so you make two cups, both weak, but more than you would have with one strong cup. The man before me was bedraggled, tired, but he had not given up yet. I looked into those eyes, and he leaned forward.

 

“So many of the social worker types come down here. They can do nothing, so they run. But you... You felt our pain, knew our suffering as if it were your own.” He waved vaguely at the tea. “They never got tea from us, I can tell you that.”

 

“My thanks.” I breathed, handing the cup back. He filled it and passed it back. “Hussef.” He said. “I am what might be called the leader of our community. You went to Gerial first. We know he has the Iridian plague. We know he may die. But still he tries to stop us from helping even though he is of our community. We push food and drink from outside the quarantine zone we have created. We boil everything he uses in the hopes it does not spread. Yet you walked in, spoke with him, treated him.” He looked around, and I could feel his heart breaking. “There is so little we can do, but you have done so much more.”

 

“Hush.” I said. “I have had my shots, you have not.”

 

“If only we could have a chance.” He whispered. “The Serroco on the skyward side of us, the Exchange on the inner side. Both take up all the room they can force, and leave us pinched between.”

 

“Serroco?” I remembered a planet by that name. Malak’s forces had smashed it flat when they recaptured it.

 

“Veterans from their forces.” Hussef explained. ”With no home to return to, they ended up here.”

 

“I see.” The second cup was even weaker than the first, but I was not going to complain. “So the Exchange has taken, what, a third of the space?”

 

“A bit more than that.” He corrected. “Between the Serroco bunch and them over three quarters of the space is held by them.”

 

Neither one needed than much space. I knew this automatically. Yet the refugees caught in the middle were crammed into a quarter of the space. “How do the Serroco and Exchange get along?”

 

“They have a truce. If they steal from us, it is all right.”

 

I passed the cup back. “Then first I must deal with the Exchange, then with the Serroco.” I said.

 

“You’re not-” He flinched back from my gaze.

 

“I will not stand by and let people be penned in like cattle.” I stood stalking across the open area between us and the hatch leading up on the other side. Whoever had chosen this as a place for the refugees had done so with malice aforethought. The way we had come in was the only way in and out. The other ramps merely led to the areas controlled by either the gang of the Veterans, and anyone using them would have to fight their way through.

 

I was in the mood for a fight.

 

I took the ramp as a jog, going up and inward. I came to a door, and a pair of Gamorreans looked at me, but did little else. Of course, it I was not wanted, I would have to fight my way past them to escape, so they didn’t much care. I returned that lack of interest.

 

After a time I came to a control room, where once upon a time cargo masters dealt with cargo coming into what was now home to the refugees. Someone had mentioned a name as I forged through the crowd below. Saquesh.

 

He was a Quarren, and he turned, the tentacles where a human would have had a chin writhed. “I thought I smelled something foul.” He said.

 

“You are Saquesh?” I asked softly.

 

“The overseer from the Exchange for this region, human. Does that mean anything to you?”

 

“The Exchange is a blight on the Universe.” I said. “Cowards that do not dare attack in the light for fear that even the smallest rodent might defeat them.”

 

“You would be wise to have a care human.”

 

“No, you would be wise to heed me.”

 

“And why should I heed you?” He asked.

 

“Because I will become your worst nightmare if you do not.” I promised. “You will remove yourself from this section of the refugee quarter. You will stop preying on the refugees. If you do not, things will get bloody.”

 

“You threaten the Exchange?”

 

“I promise grief to all of your here.”

 

“How your race has survived this long is beyond me.” He turned to his guard, and I struck. The Wee quay screamed, falling.

 

“Last chance.”

 

“Guards!” He reached for a weapon.

 

I had learned long ago that you either trust those with you to do their jobs, or you do not. I trusted Visas, and I was sure she could cover for Atton if it came to that. I cut Saquesh down, and turned. The Gamorreans from the outer room had charged in, but between them, Visas and Atton had taken them all down.

 

“Well?”

 

“Top to bottom.” I said. “Everyone with an Exchange marker dies.” I ordered.

So it was. We killed maybe thirty of them, scattering them through the halls like chaff. Along the way we freed seven people held by them. when we came back down ramps, the people were silent.

 

“Don’t go there yet.” I ordered.

 

“But-”

 

“I have the Serroco to speak to.” I snapped. “When I am done, then listen.”

 

The walk cut up and this time I took the left fork. The man guarding their territory would have stopped me, but I was death incarnate, and he wisely let me pass. The Serroco had taken a bit more than a third as reported, and the 100 odd men lounged in a space a thousand were crammed into next door. I found their leader lounging back, cleaning his weapon.

 

“You’re either very brave or very stupid to come here.” He commented. “I would lay odds on stupid.”

 

“You have a truce with the Exchange. Does it still exist if they are dead?”

 

“What?” He looked at me as if I had just emplaced a plasma mine between us.

 

“Do you have a man you trust to always tell the truth?”

 

“Woman, if I didn’t trust all of them that much, I’d be here alone.”

 

“Then send one inward. Now.”

 

He snorted, signaling a man to him. That man took off. We waited as he did his reconnoiter. when he came back he looked at me with fear in his eyes, then knelt by his commander’s side, and whispered urgently.

 

The commander listened, his face growing grim. “So you killed the Exchange goons. There were only thirty of them-”

 

“Thirty five.” I snapped back. “Since all they needed was thirty five to keep you at bay, what chance do you think you have?” I lifted my lightsaber, and the blades shot out. Behind me Visas drew her vibro-sword. “I swear by all the gods if you do not listen and agree, your men die. Here and now, by my hand.”

 

“It’s your credit.” He said. I had to hand it to him, he was brave.

 

“The Serroco were some of the bravest men I commanded during the war.” I told him. “At Zagosta a third of them died, and well.”

 

“Zagosta?” He snorted. “Marai the whore is dead. Who the hell do you think you are?”

 

“Marai Devos.” I snapped back. “And the ‘whore’ is alive and well, and seriously angry with you.”

 

His eyes went flat. “Speak your terms.”

 

“You have the perfect fortress if you have half the mind to use it.” I snarled at him. “One way in, and a good fire team could hold it against a battalion. A good fire team supported by a company could hold it against the 2nd Marines. You have several hundred people in the next bay that would pay for you to protect that way in and out, and with every menial job that has gone wanting for the last year, it doesn’t sound like much, but it’s more than you’re making right now.”

 

“Why should they pay us?”

 

“Because first you keep just the space you have. That still gives them a almost three times what they have right now. They pay for that protection. Even if they paid you a quarter of their earnings, it is more than either of you had before.

 

“And the Exchange can’t come back in unless you let them.”

 

“But they have a lot of men, they can fight us.”

 

“So what?” I asked scornfully. “The Exchange doesn’t hire mercenaries. They hire thugs. The kind that get a thrill out of standing over you and lording it over you because you’re smaller. Do you think their thugs will last a second in a firefight?”

 

He chuckled. “Maybe a couple of seconds. But it will be the high point of their brief lives.”

 

“Then you will agree?”

 

“What makes you think they will agree to this?”

 

“Because your men will occupy and fortify the entrance. Then you and I will go over there, and talk to them.”

 

It was almost that simple. Hussef had a Council, but the idea that they had a hundred guns protecting them put the Council firmly on my side. The refugees pushed, and got three quarters of the space, which meant the Serroco had to bunch up a little, but the money was enough to calm their nerves. When I handed the Serroco leader a thousand credits, it was merely icing on the cake I had suggested.

 

The people were celebrating, and I felt much better. It was the best possible solution. Slaughtering the Serroco would have left the refugees defenseless, or even worse because a hundred odd weapons would have been in their hands, and the Exchange would have killed anyone that was armed.

 

I noticed a couple of Twi-lek standing off to the side. All of the Refugees had been human, as had the Serroco troops. I walked over, and one of them saw me. He looked past me at Atton, who was with some of the children, then motioned for me to approach, but did so in such a way that Atton would not see it.”

 

“Much you have done for them.” One of them said. “We would have hired them if the Exchange had not threatened. We seek to speak to the Serroco leader now to extend that protection.”

 

“He is over there.” I waved toward him and Hussef, who were reminiscing about the war.

 

“For you this is.” The other said. “Do you know what kind of creature that male is?”

 

I looked over my shoulder at Atton, then back at them. “His name is Atton.”

 

“Yes, he is Atton now, but not then. Those he was with spoke of him. He is a killer in truth and deed.” The first one said. “We saw him when he first came to Nar Shaddaa during the Jedi Civil War. He was in Sith uniform then.”

 

“I thank you.” I said. They nodded, then sidled toward the Serroco leader. I stood for a long time watching Atton.

 

The Truth about Atton

 

Atton

 

It was almost dawn when we broke away from the celebration. Marai had been quiet since our return to the Refugee section and I was nervous. He reached the upper level, breathing that special air you only get at dawn. It’s almost worth staying up all night to taste that wine like texture.

 

“It’s great to be alive.” I said. She was still silent. I looked at her. There was tension flowing from her like ice calved from glacier.

 

“Visas, will you walk over there?” She waved toward where Marai had pointed.

 

“What is this?”

 

“Time for the truth about Atton Rand.”

 

“Oh? What truth is that?”

 

“First, what is your real name?”

 

I flinched inwardly. “I am Atton Rand.”

 

“Not according to some people I met. They say you came here in Sith uniform.”

 

I started getting mad about it. After all I had done for her... “Yeah I came here. So did a lot of refugees. And if i was in Sith Uniform what does that matter? It was cold and I had to wear something.”

 

“The truth, Atton.”

 

“You can’t handle the truth.” I snarled. “Is this some kind of half baked interrogation? because Jedi or not, you don’t know what you’re doing if it is!” I glared at her. “Why not do a Jedi mind trick and dig it out for yourself?”

 

“I apologized once, I will not do so again.”

 

“After all I’ve done for you. I helped you get off Peragus, I flew that ship through a hell you can’t imagine and that was before they set the asteroids ablaze! I have been through hell for you and now I get interrogated!

 

“What gives you the right to ask me anything? Have I asked one question about the war from you? Have I asked how it felt to murder three million people in one shot?

 

“How could you even sleep after Malachor? Is that why you went back? Because you hoped they’d exonerate you? Or maybe you hoped they’d kill you?” I shook my head. “But you know they wouldn’t. You’d go home and they’d pat you on the head-”

 

“Shut up.”

 

“-and give you a cup of cocoa-”

 

“I said shut up!” Her eyes flamed. It’s a misnomer to say a short person is in a towering rage, but for a second I saw the Maria Devos that had been.

 

“You know what I think? What a lot of the survivors of Malachor think? You sanctimonious bastards got what you deserved. All your high and mighty talk of peace and love and you killed almost 2 million of our own troops in one shot.

 

“Because you lie. Sith, Jedi, it doesn’t matter, you’re all liars. At least the Sith are honest about it. They don’t save you to put you through three kinds of hell later. While you bastards sat on the ships discussing the force we were in the mud fighting for our lives.”

 

She took a step toward me, and I backed. I think at that moment, she might have killed me.

 

“Is that so. Ask a survivor of the battle of Dxun. Ask those few left of the 2nd Marines. The history books say 75% losses of the first wave. Try closer to eighty. I was there, I saw over 400 of my men blown to hell on that landing. When Firebase Charlie called in Final protective fire there were thirty five of us in the perimeter. As the cluster bombs dropped, with blaster cannon for time on target, we dove for cover.”

 

She laughed, a dry hollow sound with no humor at all. “You know the prayers every soldier knows. A naval rating prays, ‘for what we are about to receive, may we be thankful. A grunt prays, ‘let it land on someone else‘.

 

“But the infantry officer prays, ‘gods if someone has to die, please have it be the enemy‘. Anyone but my people‘. Thirty-five. When the blast cleared thirty of us were still alive.

 

“So don’t give me the ‘you were on the ship’ sanctimonious crap. I was there, and of the 1500 of my unit 780 walked out alive. I cared about every one of them and when one of my men died I gave a damn!”

 

She glared at me. “So talk or walk.”

 

“You won’t like it.”

 

“At the moment I don’t like you at all.”

 

“I was a deserter.”

 

“From which side.”

 

I laughed. Mine had as little humor as hers. “I fought during both wars, sweet cheeks. I was a fifteen year old gung ho kid when I signed up to fight the Mandalorians. That kid was an old man five years later at Malachor. I did what I had to do.

 

“You were there at Serroco when the Stereb cities were turned into glass craters. Duro when Basilisks rained from the sky. And the Xonin plains of Eves III. Those fires still burn!

 

“Then Revan came to us. She pointed out how many had died because of politics. Admiral Quintain may had been bad, but he wasn’t the worst of the lot by a long shot. If the Jedi hadn’t joined us I would be dead already.

 

“But that’s the rub. Over seven thousand of you but less than two came to help. We knew the Senate was a crock, but why should we stand by the ones that refused to help? Revan, Malak, you. Those were who we would have stood by because you shed blood with us, took casualties with us. When Revan said ‘we need to change things’ we swore to her in droves.”

 

I spun away, looking at the sky. “Then the Sith teachings started filtering down. But we were still loyal to the spilt blood. and when the same Jedi that had refused to help us fought back, we killed them. I got good at it. I taught myself techniques, how to cloud my mind, because as smart as a Jedi is, he can’t detect you about to kill him if you’re not thinking about it, can he? Sometimes I was so good that I could walk through our headquarters and none of our own Jedi knew I was there, and I wasn‘t the only one.

 

“Revan was taking us for special units. Our orders were to capture Jedi wherever we could. We’d hit a planet, and the Jedi with us would aim us in the right direction. We’d hunt them down, put them in stasis cages, and ship them out.”

 

“Where?”

 

“At first is was to some inhospitable worlds, where they couldn’t escape. But after the first year, I don’t know. I’d heard some clues. The Star Forge was one, the other something called Traya. You see Revan knew one thing. The side with the most Jedi fighting for them was going to win.”

 

“But you’re here, and you ran away.”

 

“I just got... Tired. I wanted out.”

 

“Why?” Her voice was acid. “Kill enough Jedi?”

 

“Look who’s talking! How many died at Malachor? People who fought alongside you don’t have a great life expectancy! Do you even know-”

 

“Under my command directly 782,941.” She snapped. “And as much as you lambaste me for it, over half of them died at Malachor while I was in a coma.”

 

“So what? You have history, but 90 percent that followed you are history because they died where you took them. So don’t get all high and mighty with me.”

 

“So why are you telling me this now?”

 

“Because when I drop on some battlefield I want someone to know who I was and why I died. Even if it is you.”

 

“Why did you leave the Sith?”

 

I looked back at her. “There was this woman. Nice looker, a Jedi, though I didn‘t know until later. She had been slipped into our lines, and had been investigating for the Jedi council when I caught her. She told me that Revan or Malak were murdering those Jedi, turning them into parts of a machine, or worse. She said that they were taking anybody that was even remotely force sensitive, and they were going to end up at the Star Forge or Traya. That they would be programmed like a machine to be the perfect Jedi killing weapons. She said I must be on their list because I could use the Force, and that was why I was so good at hunting them.”

 

“So what did you do?”

 

“What do you think I did? I hurt her. But then she did something. Suddenly I was inside her head, feeling her pain, seeing my face like a monster. I hit her.” I found myself on my knees, beating my hand against the pavement. “I hit her again and again. For lying to me, for telling me the truth, for making me see what I had become. I killed her because I hated her, and I killed her because I loved her. I hit her until I stopped seeing what was in her mind, and kept hitting her anyway. Because I couldn’t beat myself to death!”

 

I looked up at her, but the disgust I had expected wasn’t there. She was impassive, but I felt; what, pity?

 

“I got a commendation, and a promotion. But I kept hearing her... Feeling her die. I remembered what she’d said. A lot of guys I knew on the special squads had been promoted and sent of for ‘special training’. What if she was right? What if I was on someone’s little list?

 

So I ran. Changed my name, drifted until I met you on Peragus. You reminded me of her. Calm self assured. Running around in your underwear, but you ruled the place. I felt... Maybe if I helped you... Maybe the screaming would stop, and I could have a decent night’s sleep again.”

 

She sighed, then put out her hand.

 

“What, you want to hit me?”

 

“I want you to stand on your own hind legs and be a man again, Atton. I can’t forget what you have done, but I can forgive it.”

[machievelli]

The Red Eclipse

 

Marai

 

I had barely turned from Atton when I felt;

 

the Toydarian was working on his accounts. “Three bricks of spice out of Ylesia, then with the turn around...Um... no, that’s won’t work...

 

“We need to speak.” A hissing voice said. the Toydariant turned. A Trandoshan stood there, visibly furious.

 

“Cahhmakt! Back already? I didn’t expect you...So soon.”

 

Some other ship takes our place. Another ship to take our cargo perhaps?” The voice was angry. “Some one takes from the Red Eclipse?”

 

“Well I tried to explain, but... Well...”

 

“Traveled far through the blackness has Red Eclipse. Bodies the Exchange sells. Bodies for tending, bodies to feed Quillan Spice. Without both, production falters, and the plants die. Yet when we come another ship occupies our berth, our territory usurped. Where the Red Eclipse should rest, another ship rests in her shadow. This will be explained. With your screams of pain, or with your life.”

 

“I got no choice! These uh, thugs. They take the space. They tell me, ‘what ship? Tell them to space themselves‘. I try to say, ‘but this is the Red Eclipse-”

 

“Enough. Find them. Tell them to come and move their ship. We will take them, feed them to the Quillan. They will pay with their agony!”

 

“Right, just find them...”

 

I found Atton standing in front of me. Visas stood there, the blade of her vibro-sword between us.

 

“Are you all right?”

 

“That isn’t the question.” I lifted my com-link. “Mandalore.” Nothing.

 

“Bao-Dur.” Still nothing.

 

“They sleep, my sister.” The Handmaiden said.

 

“Where is everybody?”

 

“Except for me, they still sleep. We are in the rooms we rented as you commanded.”

 

“Get them up, meet me at the diner. We have problems.”

 

We hurried across the quad. We ordered tea, and a moment after it was served Mandalore came, followed by the others. The only one who seemed to still be asleep was Kreia, who grumbled about the young keeping her up.

 

“Someone has blocked our ship.” I told them.

 

“Our ship?” Mandalore looked at me. “The one you gave away?”

 

“Spare me.” I snapped at him. “That damn Toydarian told him we were still here, and some ship named the Red Eclipse is blocking us in. By the way, What is Quillan?”

 

“A spice.” Atton said. “Nasty stuff. They say it’s grown using living people.”

 

“People?” The Hand maiden paled.

 

“Yes. You need to have people tend it, and humans are best for some reason. The thorns are nasty though, and it injects a toxin that will paralyze a human being. If you fall over paralyzed, the plants will spray spores on you. They feed off the nerve tissue, and grow both up and down. It takes weeks for it to kill you.”

 

“They intend to find us and feed us to these damn plants of their.” I noticed the Toydarian flying around. He saw me, and tried to shy away. Then he flew toward us.

 

“Hey! There you are... I told you someone else had booked the landing pad, and they arrived a little early. So I have to ask you to move. But hey, I gotta another pad just a klick away-”

 

“Where you will park our ship after we are dead?” I asked conversationally. Mandalore’s arm snapped out, catching the snout, slamming the little being onto the table.

 

“No, it’s nothing like that!” He protested.

 

“You have a choice, my friend. You can answer my questions, or my friend will rip your wings off, and throw you down the nearest chute.”

 

“Hey, no reason to get violent.”

 

“Mandalore-”

 

“Wait! You didn’t even ask!”

 

“This Red Eclipse. What type of ship is she?”

 

“Kuati 402.”

 

“Half again our size. Crew of thirty.” Mandalore reported.

 

“And how many in her crew?”

 

“You got the Mandalorian here, and you asking me?”

 

“To pay you back for lying to us, yes. How many?”

 

“Thirty six. They don’t need as much private space as humans.”

 

“Weapons?”

 

“I think they’re model 7-” He squealed as Mandalore squeezed. “Model 19 Corellian blasters! Five of them, One in the nose, two on each broadside. Mark 3 blaster turrets!”

 

“Anything else?”

 

“They got a hover skiff with a tripod mount and two swoops.”

 

I looked at him for a long moment. “Mandalore? We need him incapacitated for about an hour.”

 

Mandalore’s fist came up, and came down like a hammer. Quello’s eyes crossed, and he fell to the ground.

 

“What’s the plan General?” Bao-Dur asked.

 

I grinned. “All right, Atton, Bao-Dur you will set yourselves up here. Mandalore, you, Visas my sister and I will be down here-”

 

“And what of me?” Kreia asked.

 

“You will follow behind and kill anyone we don’t.”

 

*****

 

It may have looked bizarre having three women leading the attack, but all of us were trained for close combat and the men were better shots. I know I am good with a blaster rifle, and I am sure that the Handmaiden could use one as well, but Visas... Well maybe she could, but in the middle of a fire fight is not the time to find out. Mandalore walked behind us, the perfect bodyguard, weapon at port arms. Kreia was to wait a minute before following. A lot of cargo containers had been spread haphazardly along the way, and we threaded our way through, ignoring the rustling movements. A ship hung over the Ebon Hawk. It was almost wasp-like in design, lift and drive engines howling as it hovered in just the right spot to block any attempt to take off.

 

We were halfway down the bridge to the ship when a Trandoshan stepped out in front of us. I could see half a dozen others standing behind us, as many more ahead. Then over the edge came the swoops and skiff.

 

“You usurp our place.” He hissed. “For that you die.”

 

“Ready?” I whispered.

 

“Always.” Mandalore said.

 

“My life for you.” Visas whispered.

 

“Let’s get it over with. These are not even entertaining.” The Handmaiden said.

 

I grinned at her comment. I walked toward the Trandoshan and as I came up to him, my lightsaber hissed to life and he fell in pieces.

 

*****

 

Atton

 

Pick off anyone behind us so we can retreat if we need to. Wait for my signal. Great plan. What kind of-

 

The Trandoshan in front of her fell in pieces, and I felt the trigger break clean. A Wee Quay behind them went down, and I immediately went for field rather than targeting focus. There. A Trandoshan had dived for cover, and now he was sticking his head up. I went back to target focus, pulled the trigger, and went back to field.

 

Not to check him. He was dead. I was looking for another target. I could hear Bao-Dur’s rifle fire, and one of the men in the field went down.

 

*****

 

Mandalore

 

I picked off one of the swoops. The idiot had been at idle, and was a sitting target. The other had been smarter. He was already at speed when he came up and over, and he didn’t slow down.

 

I tried for the skiff, but the pilot had dived down and was out of sight I heard the Handmaiden scream-

 

*****

 

Handmaiden

 

Six of them in front of us, and they went down like grain before the scythe. The six behind had been killed by gunfire. But the ship was moving now, turning to bring her guns to bear. I saw the swoop, and shut off my weapon as I ran toward Mandalore.

 

“Boost!” I screamed.

 

He looked back then at me, and his hands clasped at waist level. I leaped, foot hitting his hands. He threw me upward, and I put everything I had, muscles, momentum, and the Force behind my leap.

 

The rider had a second before my feet caught him, then he was gone, screaming into the void. I was too busy to watch his fall. As I had felt him wrenched from the bike, I had been turning, my hand catching the handlebars. I caught the throttle by mistake, and the bike leaped forward, trailing me like the coma of a comet. I saw the Red Eclipse coming at me at high speed, and I kicked the seat, arching my body forward, and let go as the bike slammed into the ship like a missile. I dropped, scrabbling to the hull, an antenna stopping my plunge, and I rolled away as the dorsal turret fired. I was too close to the hull! Then a gun popped. An anti-intruder weapon, and I leaped, running as the gun bit divots out of their own hull, tracking after me. I dodged fire from both sides, then leaped, the anti-intruder gun ripping into their own turret. blasting it free.

 

I lit my lightsaber, concentrated, then threw, the twin blades spinning like a propeller, slicing into the mount, freezing it, then it sliced the capacitor returning to me. I caught the weapon and ducked as the gun overloaded, exploding.

 

*****

 

Marai.

 

I leaped into a run toward the Ebon Hawk. All of them ahead of us were dead, but that damn skiff had dropped out of sight, using the ship as cover. Our three gunners were blasting the ship, but her armor was too tough for that. I leaped, landing on the mandible, running over the top of the saucer drawing my blaster as I did. The skiff gunner looked up, and was moving his mount when I put a bolt through his chest. The pilot was turning, and I put several shots into the body of the machine. One must have hit her antigravs because there was a shriek of searing circuits. The last thing the pilot saw was me waving goodbye.

 

I looked up, and the Red Eclipse suddenly staggered away from the ship.

 

*****

 

Handmaiden

 

Lift and drives. Without them you cannot stay hovered in anything much larger than a fighter. I ran down the hull of the ship, heard the booming shriek of the drive fans. I was over one, and plunged my saber into the metal. There was a scream of dying machinery, and the ship staggered, now trying to fly with only three unbalanced thrusters. I ran, stopped, cut across the metal where I felt it would do the most good, and ran across, my saber bit into the second one. It was starting to fall now, and I turned. The pad was too far away! I ran toward the bow, which was aimed at our ship and leaped.

 

*****

 

Marai

 

I saw her leap, then begin to fall. It was so close! I screamed as she fell-

*****

 

Visas

 

There were no others to kill. I looked, and saw the force shadow of the Handmaiden on top of the enemy ship, hacking at it like a demented creature. I saw it sliding away, and knew that she must fall if she did not move quickly. But I also realized she could not reach the pad from there. I ran ducking around the ship, running toward the rail. Able or not, I knew instinctively she would try.

 

The handmaiden leaped like a hart trying to escape the hounds. The rail slammed into my chest, my arm reaching out. Marai was screaming. She was falling she was too far-

 

I screamed at grinding ribs as her weight caught on my wrist, hands clasped, my hand on her wrist. The grip used by trapeze artists. As long as even one holds on, the other is safe.

 

I could sense her looking up at me in shock. Below there was a roar as the Red Eclipse tried to ignite her main engines. The cut she had made in the hull spilled fuel across the hull when the lines opened, and she was aflame. The ship lifted, but then rolled, dropping into the abyss. She watched silently as the fireball expanded, and moments later, the rumble of the ship’s death.

 

“Are you going to drop me?” I heard her ask casually.

 

“Not unless you want me to.” I replied. My chest was bruised. I had felt ribs break. Part of me wondered, would Marai feel these injuries were unnecessary too?

 

“If it is all the same to you, no.”

 

“May I ask, why do humans say ‘if it is all the same’ when they mean no?”

 

“I have no idea. It is a figure of speech. Can you pull me up?”

 

“I think I broke a rib or two. Can you give me a moment to catch my breath?”

 

“Sure.” She looked downward. “I will just hang around and enjoy the view.”

 

“Nag nag nag.” Marai said. She reached down, and the Handmaiden hooked her lightsaber on her belt as if she were not hanging over eternity then reached up with her other hand, catching the other woman’s wrist.

 

“I can pull her up.” I complained.

 

“I know you can. But if you broke ribs you might hurt yourself doing it. So is it all right for me to split the load?”

 

“What ever pleases you.” I said.

 

*****

 

Mandalore

 

There were ten more aboard the ship, and none of them even tried to talk. We dealt with them, then began the process of cleaning. On Nar Shaddaa this merely meant carrying them off the ship in a cargo flat, and dropping them over the side. Ratrin Vhek and some local refugee were aboard. Vhek had been shot under the chin. If he’d seen them coming, or knew what they were, it might have been self inflicted.

 

The refugee was dead, and for a long time Marai merely sat there, her hand on his hair. “I failed you.” She whispered. Those bodies were sent to a crematorium. T3 made a long squealing comment, probably a diatribe against any people that leaked all over his bright and shiny floor, and began cleaning.

 

Atton was forward, but ran back. “Marai, we have a personal encrypted message addressed to you.”

 

She nodded. She spent a few minutes in the com room, then came back out. “Visquis wants to meet me, alone.”

 

“Alone?” Handmaiden asked. “It is a trap!”

 

“Of course it is.” Kreia replied. “But traps close both ways.”

 

“What did he say?”

 

Marai shrugged. “That he was in charge of the Exchange operations in this sector, and I was disrupting business. That if I really wanted to get the bounty lifted we should meet and discuss it because he is the one in charge of notifying the Bounty Hunters. Then he said that I should meet him in three hours at the Jekk’Jekk Tarr.”

 

Atton snorted. “Well he picked a great place to guarantee no help. It’s an aliens only bar over on the docks. No humans, no droids. Did he mention how you’re supposed to wade through Cyanogen gas?”

 

“He suggested a space suit.”

 

“Sure, no armor then either.” Atton shook his head. “I don’t like it.”

 

“Do you think I do?” She asked with a sad smile. “But if I can get the bounty lifted, that is one less problem in my life.”

 

“Yes, if he does not use this as a way to get you.” The Handmaiden said.

 

“What about the Truce?” She asked.

 

“Who do you think would tell them the truce is lifted?” I commented. “Besides, have any of you read what that truce covers?” They all looked at me. I sighed. “People until Revan gave me the title, I was a mercenary and body guard for over five years. A smart mercenary learns legalese or he doesn’t get paid. Bounty hunters have worked with contracts for over 20 millennia, If you didn’t read the fine print you don’t get paid.

 

“The only one covered by that truce is her.” I pointed at Marai. “After our little dance with the Red Eclipse, what do you want to bet that they now know there are at least three Jedi here? But two of them aren’t under that edict. Plus nothing was mentioned about those of us that are travelling with her. Anyone of us can be taken and no one will complain.”

 

“I would.” Marai said.

 

“Then there is that. There was no mention of self defense in the truce. That means if the dumbest bounty hunter knows that all he has to do is try to take one of us and if you-” I hooked my thumb at Marai, “Try to interfere with it, then the truce is off, and they can try to collect. Some might even try to slip through it by saying that if any of us try to stop them from collecting a bounty on Atton, then the truce has been broken.” I looked from face to face, and they were suddenly realizing what I was saying.

 

“All this meeting is for is to get you away from us. I don’t know what Visquis plans, but I expect all of the others will drop on us like the War God’s hammer, hoping to claim afterward that we violated the truce, not them.”

 

“It does not matter.” Marai said. “If I do not meet, then everything you have said comes to pass. If I do, and it is a trap, then I may die. But if it is not, then perhaps I can get the bounty lifted.” She stood tall. “Mandalore, you and the others prepare. Visas, Handmaiden, you two must stay aboard the ship. Do not give them a chance to try to collect. I will be back.”

 

Lookout

 

Marai.

 

As I had told Atton, I didn’t gamble except with my life. I spent a few minutes preparing the pressure suit that had languished in one of Ebon Hawk’s lockers for only the gods knew how long. I filled it from the test tank, argon gas with an agent that made argon fluoresce, and ran the pressure up to three time standard. It held pressure. Good enough. I dumped the test air back into the tank, then checked the bottle. Enough for four hours. If I was still in there after four hours, air would be the least of my problems.

 

Bao-Dur came in. “I downloaded all of the specs on cyanogen gas. It is highly toxic, and can poison on skin contact.”

 

“I know.” I said.

 

“There’s some meds that can slow it, but they don’t work for prolonged exposure.”

 

“I know that too.”

 

He looked at me helplessly. I had seen that look before;

 

I was walking toward the shuttle to the courier that would take me home. Revan had already said her goodbyes.

 

I passed a transparisteel panel, then dropped my bag and ran back. The scene outside was utter carnage. Ships floated past, rolling gently. I could see the star, and from here I should have been able to see...

 

Malachor V. Where was Malachor V?

 

“It ‘s pulverized, General.” I looked back. Bao-Dur had a gut shot haunted expression. “When the Shadow Mass Generator went off Malachor V tried to go stellar.”

 

I stared at him. Malachor V had been an enormous gas giant. we had used it for our line to stand because the hyper barrier was so large that even 20 light seconds away you were trapped in normal space. If the shadow mass generator had been activated, it would have been the equivalent of a star sitting less than a million and a half kilometers from the planet. It had been postulated that a mass the size of Malachor V was only about 10 percent from automatically initiating fusion generation. It was a star without enough pressure. Pressure we had given it.

 

“Who gave the order?”

 

“We think it was Quintain. He was aboard Ravager. He was the one we gave the damn button to.” Bao-Dur looked at me bleakly. “But I designed it, you had it built. Whose fault is that?” He waved toward the shattered ships. “Just under a million and a half of our own dead when the atmosphere blew off in superheated plasma. A little over a million and a half of the Mandalorians.” I could see the unshed tears in his eyes. “All that’s left of the planet is the core and it’s still trapped inside the field.”

 

superheated plasma. A little over a million and a half of the Mandalorians.” I could see the unshed tears in his eyes. “All that’s left of the planet is the core.”

I stared at him, appalled.

 

“Ravager went down, General. After the electromagnetic pulse fried all of the circuits, the radiation wave killed everyone aboard. No hand at the helm, she fell into the core. So did a lot of others, both Mandalorian and Republic.”

 

“But it was set to pulse once! For a tenth of a second!”

He laughed, and it held insanity. “Kinda long tenth of a second, wouldn’t you say? Maybe I built it too well. Or not well enough?” He said. “You have a ship to catch, General.”

 

I looked up, and Bao-Dur was gone. Maybe the naked grief of that farce had been on my face and he couldn’t take it. I picked up the suit, my mood black, and left the ship.

 

I was almost to the entry to the docks when I heard a shout. Atton was chasing after me. He handed me a pile of emergency injectors.

 

“I ripped every antidote injector out of the med kits. If the suit doesn’t hold, you’ll need them. Once the seizures start you’ll only have seconds.”

 

“I’ll try to keep that in mind.”

 

“The electromagnetic interference means we can’t talk to you but-”

 

“Atton.”

 

“Huh?”

 

I kissed his cheek. “Go back to the ship.”

[machievelli]

Mira

 

She was walking fat dumb and happy, wrapped up in her own thoughts.

 

“You know, I thought Jedi were supposed to be smart.” I said in a conversational tone. She froze. She wasn’t looking back. “You know, I have a theory. Humans are the most stupid race in existence.”

 

“Prejudice?”

 

“Of my own race? Nah.” She turned. I know I didn’t look that dangerous, but cute gets a lot of things done. When all you have to do is smile, sidle up to the guy and plant a shaped charge on his armor with a dead man switch, cute works wonders. “Humans are the only race I can think of that would have wounded egos about a snowball fight. I thought you Jedi were above that kind of thing.

 

“But no! You’re here less than a full standard day and night and you’re running around like a Zaktian gerbil, sticking your lightsaber into everyone’s business. Anyone ever explain subtle to you?”

 

“I have been told I have that problem.” She admitted with a small smile.

 

“What, you’re planning on rescuing every lost kitten on the planet? How long does your branch of humanity live? Cause from where I’m standing, that would be a lifetime occupation. Besides which you’re as blatant as a Mandalorian Battle group.”

 

“Well if you are going judge my character, shouldn’t we have introductions?”

 

“You’re Marai Devos. If you’re the same one in the history book, you’re a thousand klicks of very bad road, and they aren’t smart enough to realize it. As for me, I’m Mira, the best Bounty Hunter on this rock.”

 

“Are you.”

 

“Hey, that isn’t brag. I’ve had you in my sights half an hour after you landed, and have been following you every step. That was a neat job in the Refugee housing sector. Convincing the Serroco to act as their defense force was choice. Did you know there were pilots in there? The Serroco are running a shuttle service for the refugees to get them to and from work, and they’re eating better now than they were before they left home. But with someone with such a high price on their head, you really should learn some caution.”

 

“Will this take long?”

 

“No, but before you go, It’s a trap. Visquis is having all drinks half price, which is like believing in an honest Hutt banker. There are over three hundred people in that place, and a lot of them know about the bounty. But most aren’t smart enough to know that it’s been put in abeyance. You pop just one of them and the truce is over and you’re a greasy spot on the road to life. He turns the body over to Goto, ‘oh sorry boss, she made us kill her‘ and he walks off with my bounty.”

 

I stepped down, and made a motion with my arms like saying ‘ta-da!’ “But then you meet your guardian angel with red hair. Goto contacted me. He wants to talk with you personally. I’m supposed to deliver a message to Squid head, then take you to his shuttle. No threats, no guns. Just to talk. He’s promised you safe passage.”

 

“And if I decline?”

 

“He said, and I quote, ‘tell the woman that I can deliver the location of Zez-Kai Ell, though I cannot tell her exactly where. All I ask in return is some of her time’.” I saw her look. “Thought that would get your attention. But before we talk any more, I would suggest that we get off the road. I have a safe house on the way, and after our discussion, you can go see Goto, or go slap Visquis around, your choice.”

 

I call it a safe house, but it was more like a safe room. I opened the concealed door, let her in, and shut it. Then I activated the mines built into it. If Hanharr ever found this place, he’d be hound food when they went off, and only I could get into it. Everything was manually set, no electronics to spot or slice into. I looked at her expression.

 

“Hey, it may smell bad from the fuel fumes, and it is a mess, but it’s the maid’s day off.” I went over, and started some tea. She was looking over my book shelf. “I like history. It’s better than dealing with the null brains out there.” I waved toward the walls and the docks beyond.

 

“So there is no man in your life?”

 

I snorted. “Why do you think I dress this way? A man’s looking down your cleavage, he isn’t checking what you have in your hands. It’s simple really. If I want a man, I sidle up to him, slap a come along charge on his chest or use a Bothan stun rod, put him in cuffs, starve him for a couple of days until his mind is putty, then double check to see if he has a bounty, and if he does, turn him in. What can I say? I love my work.”

 

“I was speaking of sex.”

 

“Sure, the nun wants to know if I’m getting any. If I feel the itch, I scratch it. But nine nights out of ten I’m curled up in bed with some Ithorian thin leaf tea, and General Valenzuela.”

 

“Author of ‘The complete Sith War‘, volumes one through nine.”

 

“Don’t knock him.”

 

“I wasn‘t. Though his evaluation of Tanif IV left something to be desired.”

 

“I know what you mean. He’s so vague I feel the urge to go and dig up the ruins myself.” I handed her a cup, taking one for myself. I put a spoon of honey in mine which she declined, thankfully.

 

“This shows a measure of trust at odds with your profession.” She motioned toward the room.

 

“It’s not trust, but I have some quick explaining to do. You see, I’m not sure, but I think Goto is the one that put up the bounty.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because of everyone involved except me, no one else is paying attention to the ‘alive’ part of the bounty. You get only one percent of it if you kill them, but most will accept that. It isn’t just you he’s after, it’s any Jedi he can catch. Between you and me, the reason the Zhug the Gand and the droids moved into this mess was because Jedi being better than the idiots thought and really fighting back has caused the life expectancy of an average Bounty hunter to drop like a rock in a standard G field.

 

“And it’s specific enough to save those that have just a smattering of the force. If the Mid-count is less than 4,000 you get paid ten percent of what you get for a dead Jedi, and if you bring them in dead, you get zippo. Stopped them from popping anyone with that small an ability. Me I want to buy a small planet somewhere with the biggest personal collection of history in the Galaxy and hot and cold running librarians. So bringing you in dead doesn’t appeal.

 

“I almost caught the other Jedi-”

 

“Zez-Kai Ell.”

 

“Yeah, him. After trying about a dozen times he met me in a dark alley. Since I wasn't willing to kill him and he wasn’t willing to go quietly, I agreed to leave him alone. Besides, do you know how hard it is to find a man that wants to talk when you say talk? Most of them think ‘talk’ means you’ll say hi, and lip lock.

 

“He got the same offer from Goto and refused. Goto hasn’t removed him from the bounty, but I think that’s just to keep him pinned down here until he will talk.

 

“But Visquis is playing fast and loose. He wants you where he can get the money and to hell with us. But there’s a catch. He know about the truce, and him breaking it is as bad as us doing it. He works directly for Goto, so he knows the man’s temper.”

 

“I do not even know who Goto is.”

 

“Join the club. Right about the start of the Jedi Civil war he popped up. Very secretive man. A competitor tried to blow him up at a meet not long after he arrived so he never meets anyone in person. When he contacted me it was through a common pay booth I was passing. The guy has connections everywhere.

 

“For defense He’s got a series of Aratech model 41 interrogation units. Big beach ball sized anti-grav units.”

 

“Yes, I know. We used them during the Mandalorian Wars.”

 

“Then you know they’re big, and the way he’s tricked them out, very nasty. As good as any soldier you might face, and they don’t run or surrender. Plus they’re operated from a mainframe on his ship, and any attempt to slice their programming shuts them down. When they shut down they go boom in a big way, like three square blocks, so no one messes with them.

 

“He uses one of the droids to transmit messages, sit in at meetings, that kind of thing. A year after he got here, he was the number 10 man and right now he‘s number 2 or three. Pretty good. He bought a Mon Calamari cruiser about three years ago, but once he did, he had it tricked out with every defensive system known, and added a stealth system designed by his own people. Better than the military ever bought, so he could be in orbit anywhere in the Galaxy and you’d never know it.

 

“Works like a chess master but he’s quick. When someone suggests putting a bounty on him, Goto puts a bounty on them instead, and every time it was high enough that a seated monarch on a planet wasn’t safe. If you bug him too much, he takes you out, nice neat and simple. But he doesn’t hold a grudge.”

 

“You know him pretty well.”

 

“There are a lot of people out there wondering about if he’d be worth taking, and I studied him. If someone offered what they’re offering for you, I might consider it."

 

“I have to... meet with... with...” She looked up confused.

 

“You know, I had to jack up the dosage on the anesthetic gas to five times the lethal dose just to make sure? We’ve read reports from Peragus.” I took the cup, It might be a mess, but it was my mess and I didn’t want to have to clean up the spill. She was trying to move, but she couldn’t. “Pretty fancy stuff. Used in psychotherapy for the really violent patients. Interferes with the conscious thought processes. One shot of this and the guy can’t decide what kind of ice cream he likes.”

 

“But...” She tried to stand, but it was a stagger. I caught her, lowering he to the floor.

 

“You remember the tea? It’s part of a two stage antidote. It grows on the same planet and is a natural antidote. The honey is special too. The bees live on the same planet where the spice it’s made from grows. The honey is made from the nectar of both plants and neutralizes the chemicals. But without the tea, you’re still out like a candle. That and inhalant blockers. Can’t be too careful.” I laid her on her back. “Now this’ll keep you calm until I have finished passing Goto’s message on to Visquis. Then I’ll carry you over to Goto’s shuttle, and we’ll ride up.

 

“You see, he said ‘if she won’t come, I need her alive’, so I’m not breaking the truce. I was the only one he could trust at that point. So you get to see him, he gets to see you, and I get the full bounty.

 

“Everyone’s happy.”

 

Death in tandem

 

Atton

 

I went back to the ship. The wicked bitch of the west was meditating. I glared at her. It would have been so easy...

 

“Why do you disturb me.”

 

“I came clean. She knows everything. Your blackmail hold is gone.”

 

“Oh really. So now you are free of me you think.” She moved smoothly to her feet. “So small inside your mind. You held a single Jedi by her throat, I held the galaxy! I wielded power beyond your imagination. I could reach out and touch a mind anywhere, and change it make it mine.

 

“I had all of that and it was only when it had been ripped away from me did i realize what I had lost. But I have enough still that I can plumb that cesspool you call a mind. You angers, your lusts.

 

“Did you tell her that the woman you hated and loved did you one last service, before she had died? It is there in your mind, and Marai’s face floats there now. She has starred in your lusts more often than any woman aboard. It would be so easy for me to join them. to make her and the dead woman one in your mind, and there is not anything you can do to stop me. Think of laying with her, for that first time you imagine, your hands around her throat, throttling the life out of her as you make love.”

 

I backed away from her.

 

“Oh no my little puppet, you remain mine to command. Now leave me before I get upset.”

 

I stalked out. The Handmaiden saw me. “Atton?”

 

“I’m going out.”

 

“But Marai said-”

 

“Right now I don't care what Marai might have said. I want a drink, I want it alone, and I want it now. So get out of my way.”

 

I stormed away from the ship. Part of me wanted to run to the Jekk’Jekk Tarr. Tell her every little thing. Even if she would never speak to me again. But what I really needed was a drink.

 

There was a little cantina off to the side, and I went in. Dark, dank, the smell of half the galaxy’s life forms having been there at one time or another chugging their version of the favorite brew. I’d always like Tarisian ale but since the planet got whacked it’s as rare as lightsaber crystals. I went up to the bar. “Juma, the roughest you got. And keep ‘em coming.”

 

I chugged the drink. Gods that was a rough vintage. They must have aged it a solid month. Staying on the ship was obviously such a bad idea.

 

“Sad little man.” A Twi-leki voice said. She was a little smaller than I was, but she had the lithe body of a dancer with the hour and a half glass figure a mature Twi-lek yearns for.

 

“Poor little man. “This one was a finger taller than I was. Her body did things I would rather forget about right then. Every yearning of that sort led me to thinking about Marai.

 

“Perhaps this one needs company.” The first one purred. “The company of two of us.” Her friend giggled. “Do you think he would survive the night of pleasure?”

 

“Uh, do you have names?”

 

“I am Zora and this is my sister of the dance Kaliea.”

 

“Charmed.”

 

“What brings you to the smuggler’s moon. Do you seek something?”

 

“Perhaps us?” Kaliea wasn’t too quick on the uptake.

 

“Ladies, maybe another time. I’m not in the mood.”

 

“We do not please you?” Kaliea asked.

 

“Perhaps it is the one he travels with. The Jeedai.”

 

“Are you bounty hunters?” Every alarm had gone off, and right now I was wishing I had brought every weapon I had. Tach nukes might not be enough.

 

“Yes, but we are not like those filth out there.” Zora purred. “We wish for her to surrender herself to us. Does she care about you? If you are not important enough, we merely kill you and chose another.”

 

“We like you, That is why you get to die first.” Kaliea said helpfully.

 

“Ladies-” They’d made the classic mistake. They had gotten too close. Dance is wind, and I assume that as I struck out. There’s a fast three punch combination called the Cliff Face. Solar Plexus, sternum, throat. She went down gasping, but alive. So okay, I pulled my punches. She was a fox and if I ever came back she might not hold a grudge.

 

The dumb one was standing there, looking at her friend. Her face contorted with fury, and she leaped back, or tried to. I caught her foot with a sweep, and she went into a back flip. Standard wind move. I extended, catching both hands in a savage spinning kick and she landed on her face, I gave her the mill stone, fist slamming into her back. While I pulled my punch I decided to stay away from Nar Shaddaa in the future. This one would hold a grudge. Say it’s a gift.

 

“I don’t feel like dying.” I finished my sentence. The crowd was staring at me in a horrified fascination. You’d think I had urinated in the punchbowl or something. Then it hit me. What Mandalore had said.

 

Technically I had broken the truce and all hell was about to break loose.

 

Hell has arrived.

 

Mira

 

Even when I was a kid I hated suits. If you didn’t check them yourselves, you were putting your life in some other person’s hands.

 

But I trusted her. I don’t know why, I just did.

 

The helmet is always the worst. All you can smell is the plastic, the rubberized cloth of the inside, and in this case, a slight odor of cabbage.

 

I walked in, the greenish gas floating near my face.

 

“I am expected by Visquis.” I told the barman.

 

“He is the private room it is-”

 

“I know where it is.” I replied. I had to go through three rooms to get there. The place was packed, and enough Bounty Hunters had heard what was happening that a third of the people inside were bounty hunters, including about thirty Gand. But the truce was still in effect. They ignored me as long as I didn’t start shooting.

 

*****

 

Visquis

 

Visquis shook his head. “Even Jedi can be so stupid. Seal the doors.” The Twi-lek beside him pressed the button. “Unseal the private doors. I will meet her here.”

 

“There, she is delivered as I said she would. Where is Goto?” Hanharr growled. The best way to save Visquis from Goto’s wrath was to fake an omni-directional transmission. Visquis had asked the wookiee to help in return for this woman walking to her doom. This meant that he could honestly say he had not made the broadcast.

 

“Until I have the cuffs upon her, nothing is finished, and our contract remains open. I ask your patience.”

 

Hanharr merely growled.

 

It was painful waiting. Humans are so clumsy in suits. She passed through the rooms, and entered the personal airlock. The deadly gas was blown away, and she entered the private sanctum.

 

“Please, make yourself comfortable. That suit is obviously confining. The atmosphere is amenable to your species.”

 

The woman took off her helmet. Visquis thought the Jedi had slightly red hair, but this one had fiery red hair instead. “Hi guys.” He had heard the voice somewhere, but...

“Mira!” Hanharr roared.

 

*****

Mira

 

“Are you sure?” Visquis asked. Most aliens can’t tell us apart, and the Squid head was no exception. “Not bad, Hanharr, three seconds. That’s why you’re still number 2.” I sneered. I dropped the suit.

 

Hanharr almost leaped at me, but Visquis sighed. “Restrain yourself, Hanharr. I gather from your reaction that this is not the Jedi. They all look alike to me. So you are Mira the Bounty Hunter. Would you care to explain why you are here, and why the Jedi is not?”

 

“Yeah, and maybe I have a question for you. Sort of From Goto’s lips to your ears. Goto wanted to know why you were backstabbing him and taking the Jedi, even though he said she was free to walk the planet.”

 

“She murdered Saquesh my pod mate. Besides she figures in my plans.”

 

“Well Goto said your plans don’t mean squat to him. Either you back off, or you join your friend.”

 

“Arrogance. So typical of your species. I have my plans, and when they are done, Goto will have nothing to say about it. If he really had a brain, he would know that his days are numbered. And you would have been advised not to come. Those that stand with Goto against me will die.”

 

“Like he can’t figure this out? The guy has connections everywhere on this moon!”

 

“But not in here. First I discovered quite by accident that Goto does not record what occurs within these walls. I made a slight indiscretion when I was here. But he did not know about it until I commented later, outside the club. After testing it again, I discovered he cannot hear what I say in here and since that day, everything I wish to be hidden from him is done within.

 

“Second, I am acting on my own, assuring my place in the Exchange by making a deal with Vogga-”

 

“The Hutt? Tell me you’re not that stupid!”

 

“Oh he knows I have been negotiating with the Hutt, but he thinks it is for Vogga to cease operations that might be upsetting Goto. But when we met in here, it was agreed that I would arrange for Goto to be removed, and when I was in charge, I would end this stupid feud with the Vogga.

 

“You see, Goto’s attacks have weakened Vogga. made his word have less weight than he deserves. We all know there is a leak somewhere in his organization, but instead of finding and sealing that link, Vogga merely intends to kill Goto. Hanharr here was commissioned to carry out that contract and when I heard, I offered him the one thing he did not and could not have. Access to Goto’s yacht when I know him to be there.

 

“You see, I have noticed the almost desperate chase which Goto has made of this hunt. If he had been wiser he would have stated the Bounty on Jedi as Alive only, but he made a mistake. I do not know why he wants to speak with one so badly, but if Hanharr and I deliver one, he must come out of his shadow room and speak with her face to face.

 

“So you will tell me now where she is. I am not in the mood for further negotiations.”

 

“No. I already caught her, and you can’t touch her. That is the Code.”

 

“Then you leave me no choice.” He turned to Hanharr. “We will have to come up with another way.”

 

“Keep her.” Hanharr growled. “The Jeedai is stupid. She cares about other people. When she hears that Mira did not come back out, she will come.”

 

“If you think so.”

 

I jumped and the first three stun beamers missed me.

 

But for once my intelligence was wrong. There were nine of the damn things.

 

I hit the ground, gasping. A huge furry hand picked me up, and I was staring into Hanharr’s face from about 10 centimeters.

 

“If you are right, you can have her as my gift as well.” Visquis was saying.

 

I fell into darkness,

 

*****

 

Handmaiden

 

Atton stormed aboard, screaming. We met in the mess hall, and he told us of the attack upon him.

 

“With the truce off, she’s walking into a meat grinder.”

 

“She told us she was to meet alone-” Kreia began.

 

“Can it, sister. That was when she could walk in and out without the anvil chorus being played on her head. Besides, she isn’t the target.” Atton filled us in. “So it’s us they will come after because that will goad her into fighting.”

 

“That is not logical If they are after us, some will still go after her first.” I interjected.

 

“Yeah, but why bother? There’s both you and her.” Atton pointed at Visas. “Maybe they think you’ll be easier prey. And taking either one of you will bring the mother of all dire wolves down where they can hunt her.”

 

“So we break her out.” Bao-Dur hadn’t stayed for most of the talk. Neither had Mandalore. Both came in, and they were loaded for bear. “Are you done talking? If so load up.”

 

Atton grabbed his weapons. I went to the ramp. There was a crowd approaching, and from what they were carrying, they weren’t from a welcoming committee.

 

The men were coming down the ramp when they were close enough. They were Duros.

 

“Refugees on a pad. Clear away.” One of them snarled.

 

“Or maybe their are the criminal Jedi’s crew?” One said.

 

“Then those two must be the baby Jedi we heard of.” Another said.

 

“I am Azanti Zhug. We come for the baby Jedi, and if you are lucky, the rest may walk away as soon as you tell me where the other criminal is.”

 

“Anyone pick up anything from that mush mouth alien crap?” Atton asked.

 

Bao-Dur replied as calmly. “It sounded to me like they were demanding something. He thinks big words will beat the general.”

 

“That would explain it. Which one do you want, Bao-Dur?”

 

“I think the loudmouth who threatened rather than shooting when he had the chance.”

 

*****

 

Marai

 

I felt like I was swimming in treacle pudding. Every attempt to move was met by the overwhelming force of muscles that refused to operate. I concentrated, my mind seeking and neutralizing the poison. It would take time, and I did not know how much time Mira had.

 

A figure opened the door, and I recognized Zez-Kai Ell. He knelt beside me. “I know you can hear me. You are dealing with the drugs, but I must speak and go, and I will be gone before you can move.

 

“When I heard you were here, I was astonished. I thought no one would be able to track me here, but I see I underestimated you.

 

“I don’t know why you came after me. Whether it was for answers or revenge, I may never know. But I saw what you have done, and I was shamed by your acts. You have acted like a Jedi, as I acted like a frightened coward.

 

“I will hide no longer. Know that you have done that much. A friend of mine has gone in your stead to confront the Exchange, and I can feel her danger. I will return shortly, or perhaps not at all.

 

“Whatever the reason for you coming here, they are embodied in me. Either wait or follow.”

 

Then he was gone.

 

I was able to move in a fashion after a few minutes. I remembered what master Zez-Kai Ell said. Mira was in danger, and it was my footsteps that had taken her there. I was still woozy, but I was able to move, and fast. The door of the bar stood open, and I keyed it before I remembered why I had been carrying the damn suit.

 

My flesh screamed as the gas hit it, and I held my breath by sheer force of will. But I could not hold my breath for long.

 

*****

 

Visquis

 

Visquis laughed as the woman staggered into the wall, hands blindly seeking for the switch that would open it. Of course when the door closed he had locked it. “The damn fool forgot her suit. Oh dear. It seems just the air will do what needs to be done.

 

*****

 

Marai

 

I heard Kreia. Listen to me now! Clear your thoughts.

 

Kreia, I can’t breathe!

 

Calm yourself. You body has enough reserves to keep you going for quite a while. It is your fear that will kill you. The force can sustain you if you listen and trust me.

 

First, close your pores. It is a contact poison but it must enter the pores to react within your system.

 

I felt the pain ease. Then it was gone

 

Good, now increase your tear production. It will clean your eyes, and wash away any other gas that touches them.

 

I could see after a fashion.

 

It is an old technique linked to healing. By learning what your body needs, you can control you intake of it for a time.

 

And most important. Cyanogen is explosive in combination with oxygen.

 

I grinned. Then I opened the door. Everywhere around me i saw them going for weapons. The barman stared at me, and I leaped into a force powered run. There was a tank of compressed air under the bar which was used for some of the more exotic alien drinks. With more than enough oxygen for my purposes. I cut into it, and the air sprayed outward, but I was running toward the inner door. I opened it, thumbed the trigger on a plasma bomb to three seconds, flung it into the round bar area and closed the door.

 

*****

 

Visquis

 

Visquis staggered as the entire structure rocked. The first room was a shambles, with bodies scattered everywhere. “Alert the clientele! Tell them the Jedi is attacking, and any that are alive when she dies will get a share of the bounty!”

 

Hanharr roared with laughter. “You think those Tach will stop her? They are meat at a feast to be carved!”

 

“They don’t need to stop her. Only to weaken and delay.”

 

But there was little delay. The woman was a nemesis, a monster stopping For nothing. She ignored those that ignored her, but any attack brought swift retaliation. Almost a hundred of his customers were already dead, and they hadn’t even slowed her down.

 

“It is madness! She knows that there are a hundred or more before her!”

 

“She is a predator. She is the black wook that leads the soul to the shadowlands. You have baited a trap for a Tach, and instead you have caught a Katarn, and it will eat you.”

 

“No, there is a way out. You remember the vents and tunnels beyond.” Visquis waved. “You hunted Mira through them if I recall. Beyond one of the emergency blast doors is my own secret hideaway, and even if she reaches that door, she cannot enter. She will die trapped between the blast door of the entrance and the blast door of my hide. But I must make a call.” He went to the comm screen, then came back. “Come my friend, we shall have some light entertainment, then we shall watch this one as she dies.”

 

*****

 

Marai

 

I carved the door open, and the Twi-lek females squealed as I stepped in. I leaped up, beams from stunners cutting through where I was. The women went down in droves as beams that missed me harrowed their ranks. I raced about, slashing power couplings. Then I chose one who by chance and sheer terror was still conscious. “Where.” I demanded. She pointed. “Was there a girl? Red hair, leather outfit, bad attitude?”

 

“She was caught by that trap.”

I gave her a manic grin, and opened the door.

 

*****

 

Visquis

 

The Quarren led his guest through a sumptuous series of rooms. “Well hidden.” Hanharr commented. “I would have never guessed.”

 

“It was not here when you fought with Mira. When I discovered Goto’s weak spot I built this palace. Impossible to enter without my assistance, so I chose my friends, and my victims very carefully.

 

He stopped in the proscenium above his own arena. Mira lay crumpled in the center of it. “You know that as Goto’s right hand man, I am the one who issues punishments. You have seen this a hundred times, but now you get to see this live. This is where they fought and died to expiate their sins, and I have already notified the bounty hunters that she has broken the truce by attacking you. So I give her to you, as a gift.”

 

Hanharr looked at him, panting. His eyes were bright. “We should be preparing for the Jeedai!”

 

“No need.” The doors to their quarters opened and a score of Ubese mercenaries came into view. “Behold.”

 

“Ubese?” Hanharr snorted. “They may be soldiers, but they face a warrior worthy of the shadowlands. She will eat their flesh in the afterlife.”

 

“No. These are specially trained. You do know that they have a special hatred for the Jedi? When the Republic demanded that they stop producing biological and mutagenic weapons, they asked the Jedi to intercede. The Jedi refused. Did they honestly care that 90 percent of the Uba systems economy rested on those weapons? No they did not. Turn to medical research, they said. But the Ubese refused.

 

“So the Republic obliterated their world. Those that are left have learned everything there is to know about the Jedi. Especially how to kill them. So if she reaches the tunnels, they will be ready to go in after she has been weakened enough.

 

“But first, your prize. The first part of your payment.”

 

Hanharr growled, and Visquis motioned. “Guide him to the door.”

[machievelli]

Mira

 

I felt like you’d expect after I’d been hit repeatedly with a stunner. At least when I did it to someone, they woke up with some painkillers and a glass of water ready. All I got was empty space.

 

I could feel the prickling of mines around me. It took me back, and that was a place I didn’t want to be. Back before Malachor, back to when I was a child.

 

I did an equipment check as I rolled to a seated position. Another throwback to childhood. How often had I gotten a stun shot for forgetting that? A warrior is still a warrior even with no weapons. But knowing your status is a warrior’s first duty. Thank you so very much Sergeant Valak. I spent five years wanting to push that sanctimonious face through a bulkhead. Never got the chance.

 

My wrist launcher had been reloaded. I usually carry stun bombs, smokers, concussion sonic ion shots and at least one lethal shot because I might actually have to use it. But someone had loaded it with frags and antipersonnel rounds. My vibro blade was gone, but a short sword had taken it’s place.

 

My come-alongs were gone too. I carry a dozen come-alongs depending on my target for the day. Mines redesigned to attach to armor, skin, fur, whatever. Stunners, concussion, even frags and plasma if the guy is one of the ‘You’ll never take me alive’ type. You’d be surprised how many people say that but come quietly when I give them that option. It has been the key to my success. Even the biggest meanest Wookiee comes quietly when they know the only one who is going to die is him.

 

I was in a large area, and I immediately knew where. Visquis had started having little motivational videos sent around to anyone who worked for the exchange in any way. Every time some thug or crook broke the rules, he ended up here. I hadn’t watched after the first because it was like the old gladiatorial battles. You fought one enemy after another until you died. No rest, no meds, just fight and die. That explained the mines. It limited the movement of the players. You had to either watch your step, or get blown to hell.

 

Now it was my turn.

 

I touched the pouch and relaxed. I had my lucky charm as I call it. A little omni directional transmitter I had made as a kid. It foxed the mines, so they ignored me. It had kept me alive more often than I wanted to admit. I cut my teeth of minefields, and I was still the best. Those mines were a danger to anyone but me.

 

But without come alongs, with only lethal hardware, and a standard sword instead of something that could slice through a hull if given time, I was set up to fight and kill or fight and die.

 

I drew the sword. This is your weapon. Sergeant Valak had said when I was ten. Our people believe that to take a weapon is to pick up death. Your death, your enemy’s death. For a sword is made for but one purpose. To end the life of your enemy. Those who live by death and violence have death and violence given to them in time. Remember that. So if you are willing to gain your own death in time take up a sword now.

 

Like we had a choice. Civilian rations had been cut from 2,000 calories to 1200. To be able to work efficiently, a human needs over 4,000. 1600 is starvation rations, and below that you waste away. We trainees were supposed to get between four and six thousand. Even our rations had been cut, but 2500 is better than what the civilians got. I didn’t want to starve to death, so I took the damn sword. But I promised myself that I would kill as few as possible. In fact during the war I only killed those that left me no choice.

 

I saw that damn squid head up there, looking down like an ancient emperor.

 

“I can see you are awake now. I hope you are refreshed from your sleep.” He said over the speaker.

 

“Come down here and find out. If there’s anyone I’m willing to kill on this moon, you’re it.” I retorted.

 

“I think you might be interested to know that you impressed our Jedi friend. She is even now laying waste to my club. I will have some harsh words for her if she arrives.”

 

“You don’t get it you amphibious idiot! She’s Marai Devos! The last rider of the Mandalorian Wars! She went through everything the Mandalorians could throw at her, and walked out alive every time. What makes you think a bunch of swaggering bounty hunters has a chance in hell facing her?”

 

“But she didn’t face poison gas and the Ubese there, did she?”

 

I didn’t bother telling her about some of the places she had earned her blood stripes. The Mandalorians had wondered what kind of chance had birthed a warrior born in the Republic. Men that lost to her had been honored that they had even tried and failed! There is an old saw ‘those who do not heed history are doomed to repeat it’. Visquis was going to get a crash course in history and Goto would have to use DNA records to figure out if he died or not.

 

“She’s faced better men on her worst day and you’ve made her angry! I’m going to enjoy watching this!”

 

“Sadly you will not be here when she arrives. As bait you are excellent, but bait does not have to be alive to catch the fish. But I am still boss of this sector, and as such, I pronounce judgment. You are guilty of violating Goto’s ordered truce. As the offender, I would give you a chance to speak, but you will lie and tell everyone that you have not, so I will not let you speak. There is one that asked to be here to pass sentence, and I have given that loyal servant his wish.”

 

The door opened, and Hanharr stepped in. His blades were drawn, and he looked at me as if I were the last meal he would ever need. “Hanharr my loyal servant, I have heard that your kind can rip a human apart with your bare hands. Indulge me, please.” The speaker clicked off.

 

I backed slowly away. I touched my garrote...

 

They hadn‘t taken it!

 

“Hanharr, if you do this I am going to be really mad at you.” I warned.

 

“Your threats are music, for now there is no hope remaining for you. The life debt ends here!” He threw down the blades, and came at me.

 

The sword was a problem. He’d be more cautious if I had it, but by the same token, if I threw it away too early, he would be suspicious. Even a Wookiee isn’t stupid enough to charge someone who had just disarmed himself.

 

I only had one chance, and it depended on him being close enough that he thought he could grab me, but far enough away that I had a chance to move.

 

I ducked aside, and he stumbled past me. He saw the frag mine and rolled away as it blew. He was singed, but not badly hurt. I took the first stance, and he sneered, now sidling toward me, arms spread. Even with the damn sword his reach was greater than mine. I would have to get inside those arms to use it, and he could stop me. We had changed positions in that quick exchange, and I now had my back to the door. If I had been stupid I could have turned and run, hoping that the outer door was unlocked. Of course it wasn’t and he would then have me trapped where I had no chance of escape.

 

When in doubt, feign being stupid. I sidled forward, then threw the sword at him like a giant knife, spun and ran for the door. I heard it hit his arm, then the wall. He was charging after me. He was faster than I was, and we both knew it. In a sprint he’d outrun me and I didn’t have enough room to make it a marathon, where I would have a better chance. I angled to the right, and then broke hard, hitting the wall even with my head with my foot, and used the momentum to go straight up it for four meters. The garrote was in my hands as I somersaulted up away as his fist slammed into the metal, then I was dropping like a bomb right on top of him.

 

I flipped it, the wire spinning around his neck, catching the other toggle, then wrapped my legs around his chest and pulled backwards with all my strength. I felt his hands pawing at the wire, but it had sunk into the fur and his flesh beneath it. The only way he would get free was if I let go. But if I let go, I’d die.

 

He fell backwards, and I kicked my legs free before he could grab them, slamming down on my back, the legs acting as shock absorbers to stop him from crushing me. It hurt, my legs almost collapsed under the weight, but I was still killing him. He tried to reach back, but I shoved upward, legs straining, keeping him from reaching me.

 

He gasped, weakly pawing at the wire, trying to paw at me. Then he collapsed. I held it anyway, keeping the pressure on. I didn’t use a wire small enough to slice through him like cheese, but I would have taken his head if I could guarantee it.

 

After over a minute, there was no movement, and I flipped the toggle around so now both were in one hand, and I checked the pulse point on the wrist. Nothing.

 

I pushed him aside, lurching to my feet and away. There is that second after a fight to the death when you know you’re alive, and you feel a rush of joy like no other. Cherish it Sergeant Valak had said after that first battle, where I was still alive. If you feel it, you have won, and surviving is the only prize in battle.

 

Damn it! The man had been dead for almost ten years, but still he haunted me. I’d helped lay his body out, seen it burn. Why was he suddenly here with me now?

 

“That was... surprising.” Visquis said. “Well that means I do not have to give Hanharr his pay, so instead, I will give it to you.”

 

I snapped around. The way he said that meant the trouble was just beginning.

 

Another door opened, and a Kath hound bounded into view.

 

I know what he expected. I was supposed to turn and run, the hound and it’s pack mates that were coming out of that room would charge, and I’d be dinner. I would try the grenades, but the room was too close. I might kill them, I might kill me. Not an option. But I wasn’t playing by his game plan. I saw him walk away, leaving the viewing area. If he had stayed he might have learned something.

 

Toward the end of our first year of training, before they sent us on to units, there had been one final test. Warriors we had been told were predators. In nature predators hunt in one way alone, but we must learn all ways to know the best, for warriors are the premier predator. There are three types of predator designed by nature. There are those that lurk, those that leap, and those that chase.

 

But nature did not teach them hunting, their instincts did. A lurker will let you go by unless you step into the traps they have constructed. A leaper will chase if you are within a certain distance, yet would prefer to drop upon you. A coursing predator, the kind that chases needs that trigger to attack. They would lunge, if trained they would attack if you made an offensive move, but on the whole they would wait for you to run, because prey always ran.

 

But instinct can be confounded. If you stay out of the area of the trap, you are safe from the lurkers. If you stay far enough that a charge would take more than a few moments, a leaper would ignore you.

 

For a coursing hunter, you stand tall, you do not run, and you face them. It confuses them. If you run, prey. If you react before they have lunged, prey. If you slap them after that they will retreat. You are and are not prey, and they have to go through a mental process you or I would run through in about a minute. It takes them longer.

 

Let’s hear it for sentience.

 

They growled, one of them lunging, but stopping a meter away. I stood, glaring at him, but did nothing. He backed away, and another nipped at me. But again he retreated. This went on for a while. When they nipped at me again I growled and slapped the nose of the offender. He retreated, and obviously they would now have a discussion about it. The only way out of here except as hound feces required me to blow the door.

 

I estimated the mass of the mines I had felt. He’d had to deactivate them because Kath hounds are expensive to transport, they come from Dantooine after all. But deactivated mines could be activated again, and I was the girl to do it. But my estimate didn’t even scratch that big metal blast door. I looked up. Now the transparisteel panels... Yeah, enough for that.

 

I turned and walked to the first one. They watched me, and might have attacked but I stopped, kneeling to pick it up. Frag, Semmetig model 19A. Mandalorian work. Big enough to cover a ten meter circle with death. Piece of cake, I cut my teeth on laying these. I cleared the hold-downs, and picked it up. They had closed, but there was this moving bubble of space where I was. I was neither prey nor merely a plant they could not eat. It wouldn’t last much longer, but I used the time I had. I gathered each mine, my little bubble dragging them along. Then I set my back to the wall, and worked. I rigged them in a plate with a daisy chain fuse. Blow one, and they all blow. I activated the attraction fields, then reached up as high as I could. Damn it, too high. No help for it. I leaped, slapping it against the clear panel, hanging by that field as I activated the middle one. I had a three second delay, or it would have blown me to hell as I dropped away.

 

They had been energized by that, and I was moving back to prey for their tiny little minds. I strode around the room, and they followed. Soon I was exactly opposite my little prize, and I stopped. I needed something to throw that wouldn’t explode itself, so the grenades were out. I pulled out that good luck charm. Well if I needed good luck now was it. I flung it toward the center of mass, dropping at the same time.

 

It was like being in a garbage can with god playing kickball. The grenades went off, and shrapnel howled through the room, the over pressure slammed me into the wall. Then it was over. I looked up. All but one of the pack had been in the frag pattern and the survivor was shaking his head in pain. I ignored him. I leaped up, running through the smoke. The bottom half of the panel had shattered, and I was up and through a second before the top fell like a guillotine.

 

I could have tried to escape, but Visquis was still waiting for his Jedi. I ransacked the place, and came up with enough mines to blow that blast door to hell. I rigged them, stood back, raised the hand detonator.

 

Wait, Mira. Bad idea. No suit, no mask. If I fired that while I was standing here, I was dead even if she lived. I had found an emergency capsule, knowing it was Visquis’ escape route just made my decision easier. If I blew that charge, used the pod, he’d be trapped here.

 

As I triggered it; leaping in, I thought;

 

Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy!

 

 

Collection

 

Visquis shook at the last explosion. The first had been Mira dying so what had caused this one?

 

One of the Ubese guards whistled, then pointed at the control panel.

 

The door to the vents had been opened. No, it had been blown up. The Jedi had-

 

No, the Jedi had carried no explosives. The sensors on the door would have detected them-

 

Mira! Somehow the little beast had escaped, and she’d opened the door the only way she could.

 

“We must go to the arena. I no longer care if the Jedi lives.” Visquis ordered.

*****

 

Marai

 

The door had stopped me. There were a few light mines scattered, and i had disabled and worked them into a charge, but there were not enough to take down the door. It was too thick for my lightsaber to cut through unless I wanted to peel it a layer at a time like an onion.

 

Then instinctively I knew that I had to get away. I ran, getting through the next two chambers, and against the wall facing it when the mother of all explosions blew it up. I was battered by concussion, and when I looked up a jagged piece of that door had passed through where I would have been if I had been standing, and gone on to wreck two more walls.

 

I stalked back to the door. It had been blown to flinders and the gas from the tunnels behind me warred with the atmosphere of the rooms. I found an area still clean, and took a deep breath for the first time in several minutes. This I knew was how Kreia had survived on the ship after the Harbinger. Her body had merely dropped into a hibernating sleep until she had felt my mind stirring again.

 

There was a door open down a ramp, and I saw Visquis standing in an open room. I stalked down it, looking at the body of a wookiee, at half a dozen Kath hounds strewn about. “Where is Mira.”

 

“We must talk-”

 

“No talk! You had your chance to talk, and you used it with that abattoir you made of your club. Where is Mira?”

 

“We have her-”

 

“You have nothing.” I sensed the lie. “She escaped you and you now have no cards remaining.”

 

He raised his hand, and from behind him Ubese troops appeared. I could hear a clattering sound. There were a lot more behind me. “Kill her!” He screamed. They did not move. Then I heard the hum of an antigravity field. The big black ball shape floated between the Ubese behind me, resting just forward of their line.

 

“Goto! I-”

 

“Until she departs, the contract is in abeyance. She has been given a round trip ticket. If you eclipse her movements while she is on this moon, I will eclipse yours. Hunt her here, and your fellows will be glad to hunt you afterward.

 

“My own words, and you knew my command. Yet you did not listen.”

 

“She is here, take her, she is my gift to you!”

 

“Spare me. You thought I could not hear, so all you have done is known to me.”

 

“Please Goto... I-”

 

“Someone just kill him.”

 

“Wait!” I looked at the droid. “There has been enough death!”

 

The Ubese behind Visquis made one single economic thrust.

 

“You do not know how much death he as caused. Half of the Zhug now lie dead because they thought your allies weaker without you. A third of the Gand died trying to slow you down.” It turned, and the mellow voice spoke softly, almost pleasantly. “More to the point my orders are to be obeyed. Not ignored, not worked around. They are to be obeyed or you die. If I had let him live, others might have followed that example. Now they will not.” It rotated so that the main sensor array was aimed at me. “If you would be so kind, I would prefer to discuss our business somewhere that is not going to be ground zero of another attack. Your friends will not be subtle.”

 

“Then I will stay here and await them.”

 

“You are such an amusing little Jedi, are you not. Did you think I would ask?”

Stunners shot from every corner of the room. Not one or nine but dozens.

 

*****

Mira

 

The pod shuddered to a stop and I stumbled out right into the arms of Zez-Kai Ell. “What?”

 

“Goto has her.” He answered in a soft voice.

 

“Oh Sith spit!”

 

“It is hopeless.”

 

“Oh yeah?” I glared up at him. “No one steals my bounty, no one! Not you, not the entire Jedi Council, not Visquis and not even Goto!” I started to move around him.

 

“What are you going to do?”

 

“She has friends, I’m going to find them and we are going to figure out a way to rescue her. With or without your help.”

 

*****

 

Hanharr

 

Except for the bodies of the dead, the room was silent. As huge as he was in life, Hanharr looked shrunken, as if the rage had been all that filled his skin. A robed figure walked down, past the Kath hounds, passed the body of Visquis, to stand over him. A hand came out, and energy flowed into the corpse.

 

“Arise, beast.” Kreia said.

 

I gave a roar of pain, rolling onto my knees. I had felt the black Wook’s hand reaching out leading me back, I had been in the Shadowlands. Perhaps I would be forgiven. My stupidity had killed so many, and I wanted to face them. Even if I was to be barred forever from the great feast, I wanted to see those faces one last time. I yearned to see father mother, my siblings. Friends. All of whom had died rather than wear the hated metal chains of the off worlders as I had. They had died because of me.

 

But even if I was welcomed I would not be able to go in even yet. Mira still lived. I was bound to the outer world until she joined them. But even she would hate me. She would be allowed at the feast as the life debt demanded, for she had done nothing more than not accept it. She had done all honor demanded, and she would be allowed in but I would not.

 

They were there, a silent crowd that could judge my worth. I reached out imploring-

 

I was back in that hated body. My throat felt as if I had been decapitated, and the head sewn back on by a drunken human doctor.

 

“Get up.” The human demanded. “I have saved your life, and by that code you serve, it is now mine.”

 

“Why have you done this?” I screamed my pain at her. “Why did you not leave me dead?”

 

“Because I need for you to hunt, beast. Your prey is that which has drawn you your entire life. Something you were born and bred to hunt. You have been honed into the perfect predator.”

 

“The Jeedai.” I snarled. “You want me to hunt her and kill her.”

 

“No, beast, you are mistaken. If any act of yours harms her, I will make sure you survive to see the very stars die. Know this, beast. If you hunt the Jedi you will wish to all the gods that you die before the stars do, and that shall be denied you. This is the life debt I demand.”

 

“No! I shall not bear another life debt! I will not!” I leaped to my feet. “Release me from this of I will kill you!”

 

Somehow she wasn’t there. My fists found nothing. She laughed mocking my attempts. “Ah that curious custom. The life-debt. Where you must swear to one that saves you. Perverted by your hate. Did you ever try to explain to Mira that such a debt gives you family again? That it returns to you some of what links you to your dead? That if she had accepted it, life would have been bearable? No. You demanded it, and when she refused you focused all that hate on her as you now try to focus it upon me. But I am beyond your power. Soon she will be beyond your reach at all, and you will be trapped in life unless you do as I say.

 

“But I promise one thing she would not. I promise that I will show you no further mercy. You will hunt the red maned one for me. You will kill her, and ending her life will end all debts between you and I. Most of the pain you feel will pass with time, though some is necessary if you are to survive where I send you.”

 

“Where? Where is she going?”

 

“Not so fast.” Her voice was tinged with human amusement. “You will go where I send you, and if you survive there, I promise that she will come to you.”

 

Suddenly I knew where to go, which ship was unlocked. The course to give the computer. My destination on the road to hell.

 

Reclamation

 

Atton

 

It was like wading through the sea. Something two or three hundred of those idiot Duros had tried to stop us. They faced Bao-Dur and Mandalore, two sides of the same coin melded into one by the Mandalorian wars. They faced the furies in Visas Kreia and the Handmaiden. Alecto the Seeker who found the prey, Megarea, the one who planned, and Tisiphone, the one who slew. They were fully represented, and any that had cared of the enemy would have been justly proud to be reaped by them. I cleaned up after the others, with T3 following.

 

We broke into the docks, and where the Jekk’Jekk Tarr had been was a smoking crater.

 

“When she gets mad, she doesn’t stint. “Bao-Dur commented dryly. “Problem is, now where is she?”

 

“You’re a little late.” A female voice said. We spun, every weapon on the small woman with red hair that approached. “I will tell you what happened. No, we don't have the time, I will sum it up. I went in, tried to back Visquis off. She came after me in her so subtle fashion, and about three hundred assorted idiots tried to stop her. I blew the last door for her, but wasn’t able to help. I think Visquis is worm food because last I heard Goto has her and has already taken off. By now he’s on that super stealthed yacht of his.”

 

“Where is the yacht?” I roared. “Where is she?”

 

“I can’t tell you that. It isn‘t that I won’t, it’s that I don’t know!” She looked like she was going to cry. “Goto has a Mon Calamari civilian job in orbit somewhere, but no one has ever been able to find it! He’s got a stealth system any navy would kill for, and he can’t be found just by looking!

 

“The only way to get invited before was by delivering a Jedi-”

 

“Offer me.” Visas said. “I will die in her place.”

 

“Or I!” The Handmaiden cried. “Or both!”

 

“As much as I would love the money if you’d said it two hours ago, it won’t do us a bit of good. Right after his shuttle took off the word was passed. The bounty has been closed out.“

 

“How good is this cloaking device?” I demanded.

 

She gave a chuckle. “After the years they have sat doing nothing but wait, every bounty hunter left alive would be on him like a pack of Needra on a wounded buck. He’s cost them a lot with his high handed ways, and this last contract was the straw that broke our backs. The only ships that ever see him are Vogga’s freighters, and they don’t come back.”

 

“Freighters?” She explained the curious vendetta the crime lord seemed to have with Vogga the Hutt. “If you captain one of Vogga’s ships, you know that if you come to Nar Shaddaa you can deliver your cargo, but never leave. He’s got half a hundred ships in orbit or on the ground here but none dare break orbit.”

 

I wanted to walk, ponder it. Then I noticed something. “Where is that little tin can?”

 

*****

 

We went back to the ship, Mira trailing along. I wanted to dump her but she was harder to get rid of than a woman that thought she loved you.

 

No, the little tin can was not there. I was starting to really get agro. The Handmaiden wanted to lift, to try to see if either she or Visas could find that damn ship, but we could get off the ground. The little trash compacter had locked it down tighter than a drunken Hutt.

 

That was when I lost it. I screamed, everyone tried to calm me down but i was in the mood to kick butt and if it was a little droid, I was all for it!

 

There was a whistling sound, and the little creep rolled in, whistling rapidly.

 

“Come here, there’s a blaster bolt with your name on it!” It ran, socketed it’s arm into one of the consoles, and there before our eyes was one of Vogga’s smaller ships. A CEC model 141, the same size as ours. I stopped. “So what you little-”

 

“Atton, wait.” Handmaiden said. “Is this the transponder information we needed?” The little can bleeped and burbled at her. “So we only need-” A small arm popped out. On it was a transponder chip. I snatched it up, and ran it into a reader.

 

“It’s blank!”

 

“Didn’t you say...”

 

Yes! ID specs and a blank chip!” I grabbed Mira, lay a kiss on her cheek. turned to the Handmaiden who backed away.

 

“Touch me, and I’ll hurt you!”

 

“Touch me, and I will kill you.” Visas added softly.

 

“Be right back.”

 

It didn’t take long. My friend etched the chip, and I brought it back. It only took a second to put it in, and we were now Y-Toub Glory. I took the command seat as the droid cleared the locks, and I lifted us off.

 

“When this goes down, we have to move fast.”

 

“A pair can move faster than an armada.” The Handmaiden said. “I will go.”

 

“So-”

 

And me.” Mira said.

 

“Wait, didn't we leave you down there? After all you’re the reason she’s in this mess.”

 

“That’s why I’m going jet jockey. I got her into the mess trying to help her, and that Sith spit slime stole her away. I’ll get her and get him back at the same time.”

 

“How?”

 

I flashed a chip. “I get to his command bridge, and input this, and his transponder reads “Here I am, signed Goto.” Even if they fry the chip ten second later, he’s toast.”

 

We were above atmosphere, and a ship detached from the cluster above Nar Shaddaa. I looked at it, checking the sensor reading. “That’s a Kuati light cruiser. Why would-” The ship staggered. “It’s Goto!” Mira screamed.

 

“I thought-”

 

“Don’t think! You and me lady, we’re on!”

[machievelli]

What is it that bad? No one has ANYTHING to say?

 

I'm going to go get drunk. Wake me when the millennia arrives.

[Emperor Devon]

What is it that bad? No one has ANYTHING to say?

 

Nothing is bad, machievelli. I've just not had any feedback which I would consider particularly worth saying. If you'd like to hear opinions on your chapters more, I'll be sure to post mine more often, starting with this:

 

I thought these chapters were another good addition to what you've been doing so far. I thought the way you had Marai incapacitated was much better than what was in the game, since it looked odd for lightning to flash out of a hidden gnerator without leaving any visible injuries. I'd never considered Mira being interested in history before, and it was another thing that helped your chapters seem less like a complete write-off of the game. The way she finished off Hanharr was realistic, and I liked it how you mentioned the amount of calories epople on the Manndalorians' side during the war got. Little things like that help bring fan fiction to life. The scene with the Red Eclipse and Marai wondering if Visas would kill her was enjoyable, and Visas' remark on whether she would drop her or not was amusing. I t was also a good touch how you explained what happened to the ship the slavers came in.

 

Your chapter about the miserable lives the refugees lived and Atton's past was probably your best one yet. It was very emotional, and was much more lifelike than what was in the game. The depth you put into Marai's views about suffering was of a high quality, and I look foward to HK-47's appearance. Good chapters!

[machievelli]

I'd never considered Mira being interested in history before, and it was another thing that helped your chapters seem less like a complete write-off of the game. The way she finished off Hanharr was realistic, and I liked it how you mentioned the amount of calories epople on the Manndalorians' side during the war got. Little things like that help bring fan fiction to life.

 

I gave Mira a love for history because I couldn't see her getting into romances or penny dreadfuls. A cute girl in a sleazy town always has something she does for her own enjoyment unless she wants to quote George Bernhard Shaw who when asked if he was enjoying himself at a party replied 'Madam, that is the only thing I am enjoying'.

 

I myself love history, especially military history. The caloric intake, I mentioned is on par with what the German people in the last two years of WII were getting. The only people better fed were the Troops and POWs because International law required it.

 

The scene with the Red Eclipse and Marai wondering if Visas would kill her was enjoyable, and Visas' remark on whether she would drop her or not was amusing. I t was also a good touch how you explained what happened to the ship the slavers came in.

 

See I must have made one glaring error since it was the Handmaiden hanging off over eternity. I'll have to re read my own work. Damn. Didn't I jus ding someone on that in my critical column?

 

Your chapter about the miserable lives the refugees lived and Atton's past was probably your best one yet. It was very emotional, and was much more lifelike than what was in the game. The depth you put into Marai's views about suffering was of a high quality, and I look foward to HK-47's appearance. Good chapters!

 

as Mira said in the game, and I used thel ine because it was perfect, the historians always love to write about the epic battles, but no one wants to count the cost in human misery after the fact. The German people after WWII were on a 1200 calorie ration for two years after WWII so that their own food procution could go to more 'worthy' nations like Russia and France.

 

Edit: Oh BTW, The segment when Marai meets the Jedi Master will give you a bit of insight on why the shadow mass generator was used. It's reminscent of why the two A bombs were dropped.

[Emperor Devon]

I myself love history, especially military history. The caloric intake, I mentioned is on par with what the German people in the last two years of WII were getting.

 

I myself have a love for history as well. Those Germans got very desperate near the end of both wars. At the end of WWI, they were even melting down church bells to make bullets.

 

See I must have made one glaring error since it was the Handmaiden hanging off over eternity. I'll have to re read my own work.

 

While you're at it, I think that you stated somewhere that Malachor V was a gas giant. All five pllanets are actually very rocky.

 

as Mira said in the game, and I used thel ine because it was perfect, the historians always love to write about the epic battles, but no one wants to count the cost in human misery after the fact.

 

Battles are all well and good, but I think every little detail in wars can be interesting.

 

The German people after WWII were on a 1200 calorie ration for two years after WWII so that their own food procution could go to more 'worthy' nations like Russia and France.

 

Hardly surprising. The Russians absolutely loathed the Germans after the end of the war. They even advocated completely unindustrializing Germany so that they could only be a small nation of primitive farmers for all time. But after they lost whole country's worth of resources and troops, you can see why they wanted revenge. The French had it surprisingly well off under the Germans, though.

 

By the way, are you on your first playthrough of TSL and writing as you go along?

[machievelli]

Actually the agrarianization of Germany was Henry Morgenthau's idea, including General order 1068 which told the Americans in German to have no pity and made it a court martial offense to give a kid a candy bar.

 

But the Russians agreed. whole heartedly. Morgenthau and the New dealers ripped out any factory worth mentioning and spilt them between England, France and Russia. The factories sent to Russia literally rusted into scrap sitting on the sidings because the Russians couldn't seem to put them back together. To show you what they defined as 'military' a factory that made women's shoes in Bremen was sent off to be reassembled in Toulon. I served at Curtuis Bay Station in Maryland and we had a crane named 'Herman The German that used to be in Kiel.

 

At the same time, anyone who owned more than 350 acres (The size of a small farm here) was having their lands seized and given to 'the poor'.

 

All of this was being done as Truman was promising to help the German's rebuild. When Morgenthau was told that the german land area couldn't support their population with an industry his answer was they could dwindle until they could. That great american was saying 'who cares if 12 million Germans die of starvation?'

 

As for Malachor, I didn't have any specs on the system. I'll leave it as it is, and if I can sell this as a book, I'll rewrite it.

[Emperor Devon]

Actually the agrarianization of Germany was Henry Morgenthau's idea, including General order 1068 which told the Americans in German to have no pity and made it a court martial offense to give a kid a candy bar.

 

He did, though the Russians loved it the most.

 

At the same time, anyone who owned more than 350 acres (The size of a small farm here) was having their lands seized and given to 'the poor'.

 

Completely redundant.

 

All of this was being done as Truman was promising to help the German's rebuild. When Morgenthau was told that the german land area couldn't support their population with an industry his answer was they could dwindle until they could. That great american was saying 'who cares if 12 million Germans die of starvation?'

 

Quite unjust. The whole population was not responsible for all the crimes that were committed. But all that resentment clouded people's judgements.

 

As for Malachor, I didn't have any specs on the system. I'll leave it as it is, and if I can sell this as a book, I'll rewrite it.

 

TSL goes into a bit more depth about the battle at Malachor later on, and it's revealed what the terrain is. That was one of the things which made the mass shadow generator effective, because it pulled as many ships as possible against the five planetoids and sent them crashing into each other, which I think explains why so many NPCs reffer to it as 'Malachor' and 'Malachor V' on and off.

[machievelli]

TSL goes into a bit more depth about the battle at Malachor later on, and it's revealed what the terrain is. That was one of the things which made the mass shadow generator effective, because it pulled as many ships as possible against the five planetoids and sent them crashing into each other, which I think explains why so many NPCs reffer to it as 'Malachor' and 'Malachor V' on and off.

The problem with the game is my system has only 1/2 the memory required to run it techincally. If there is a cut scene that I can watch using the bink video system, please let me know. I looked through the movies, and none of the Malachor movies shows the actual damage done.

 

You asked earlier, and I didn't answer. I had not reached Dxun the first time when I started. I went through the game once as far as the return to citadel station, then played it through with the party as I envisioned it all the way through, but a lot of cut scenes mentioned in dialogue were never seen.

 

Oddly enough, having Marai stick her light saber into a specific face of the obelisk (Justice) was a prescient move. The thing is that the only one 'seeking truth' is Marai herself.

 

Quite unjust. The whole population was not responsible for all the crimes that were committed. But all that resentment clouded people's judgements.

The problem was, Morgenthau suggested the plan in 1943, long before most of the nazi atrocities were even known in the US. He merely felt the entire German race was responsible for every ill known to Europe and destroying them as a people (In other words, what the Nazis had done to the 'subhumans' in the concentration camps) was acceptable if it was us doing it to them.

 

Like BUll Halsey saying 'When this war is over, The only place they will speak Japanese is in Hell' but Morgenthau like Eichmann and others, tried to make it real.

[Emperor Devon]

The problem with the game is my system has only 1/2 the memory required to run it techincally. If there is a cut scene that I can watch using the bink video system, please let me know. I looked through the movies, and none of the Malachor movies shows the actual damage done.

 

Very bad idea! There are lots of spoilers in some of those. Although none of the movies show the damage being done, some of the dialogue near the end the end of the game and one LS-only movie make it obvious what happened.

 

You asked earlier, and I didn't answer. I had not reached Dxun the first time when I started. I went through the game once as far as the return to citadel station, then played it through with the party as I envisioned it all the way through, but a lot of cut scenes mentioned in dialogue were never seen.

 

That's odd. One way to tell if something's wrong with the way your computer shows biks is to go to the movies option in the main menu.

 

Oddly enough, having Marai stick her light saber into a specific face of the obelisk (Justice) was a prescient move. The thing is that the only one 'seeking truth' is Marai herself.

 

And amusingly enough, the person that teaches her how to find truth is actually counterproductive toward that goal.

 

The problem was, Morgenthau suggested the plan in 1943, long before most of the nazi atrocities were even known in the US.

 

Given how by that year the Nazis had overrun most of Europe, it's quite understandable to want to eradicate any means of them doing it again. Each generation had started a war that threatened world peace, and they'd attacked France for the third time in less than half a century.

 

(In other words, what the Nazis had done to the 'subhumans' in the concentration camps) was acceptable if it was us doing it to them.

 

That would have made us no better than the Nazis.

[machievelli]

Given how by that year the Nazis had overrun most of Europe, it's quite understandable to want to eradicate any means of them doing it again. Each generation had started a war that threatened world peace, and they'd attacked France for the third time in less than half a century.

 

Actually that is not accurate. First, the first of those wars had begun because France (Which had agreed to stop trying to gobble up territory in Europe after Waterloo) was trying to get concessions from the then seperate German nations. Napoleon III tried to get Prussia to assist in their attempt to buy Luxembourg, and instead of helping, the Germans published the entire dialogue between their goverment and France. The French started that war. The Germans beat the original French Invasion, then retaliated.

 

In WWI, both France and Germany were dragged in because of treaties with Serbia (France) and Austria (Germany). The original offensive moves along that front came when the French attacked into the Alsace Lorraine, which they had ceded to Germany in 1871. It was only after this attack that the Schlieffien plan went into action, and even the designer of it knew that if

here was no swift victory, it would drag on for years.

 

As for WWII, French and English unwillingness to fight caused it. When the germans reoccupied the Rhineland in 1934 the German army was still at it's Versailles treaty limits of 100,000 men. They only had a regiment to use for this 'attack'. The French had 31 Divisions, or over four times as many troops as Germany had in total. One division would have sent the Germans into retreat because Rommel had such orders.

 

Laying the blame onGermany for the entire first wolrd war was like when they took come french Shepherd in in the early 16th century and burned him at the stake because of a new plague that was supposedly sweeping Europe at the time.

 

It was called syphlis.

 

 

Edit: Note: Commentary on such weapons as the Death Star and the Shadow Mass Generator from TSL in the Expert forum

[Emperor Devon]

Actually that is not accurate.

 

*Slaps head* 1870 - 1914 - 1940. My mistake. I mixed up the date with WWII.

 

It was only after this attack that the Schlieffien plan went into action, and even the designer of it knew that if

here was no swift victory, it would drag on for years.

 

If it could even be called that. Von Moltke was too afraid of the risk to eastern Germany, and practically split the German army in half as the war progressed. The original plan called for a small portion of the army to hold of the Russians in the east, while the amjority of the army would smash through France in the west, and use Belgium to avoid the fortresses the French set up. Quite foolish, as that drew Britain into the war.

 

As for WWII, French and English unwillingness to fight caused it. When the germans reoccupied the Rhineland in 1934 the German army was still at it's Versailles treaty limits of 100,000 men. They only had a regiment to use for this 'attack'. The French had 31 Divisions, or over four times as many troops as Germany had in total. One division would have sent the Germans into retreat because Rommel had such orders.

 

Indeed... I think it's quite debateable as to if WWII started in 1934 or 1939. Such foolishness. They could flattened the Germans even in '36.

 

Laying the blame onGermany for the entire first wolrd war was like when they took come french Shepherd in in the early 16th century and burned him at the stake because of a new plague that was supposedly sweeping Europe at the time.

 

WWI is a difficult war to lay the blame on. Was it the assassin's fault for killing the Archduke? Was it Austria-Hungary's fault for declaring war on Serbia? Was it Germany's fault for causing such resentment from the French in 1870? Or was it the Second Empire's fault for causing that war? Or the fault of everyone for the arms races and nationalism? Very difficult to decide what really caused the Great War, though it was foolish for the Allies to make Germany accept responsibility for the whole thing.

 

Edit: Note: Commentary on such weapons as the Death Star and the Shadow Mass Generator from TSL in the Expert forum

 

I'll take a look.