[Fic] An Interesting Tale With A Hint of Juma, Please!

[The_Catto]

I was once asked by a friend of mine, “to get what you want, what would you be willing to sacrifice and why?”

As far as I can remember, that was at least ten years ago. I had never had an answer for them then, but I do now.

 

 

 

 

I could feel my senses start to creep back into my brain and I could see the bright light of the sun press against my eyelids. Frowning, I slowly reached down into my pocket and grabbed out the small card what I had had in it last night.

 

It was a +4 pazaak card. Sure, even I had expected it to be at least a little more extravagant than that but there it was nonetheless. I sat up and looked around. There was a large building to my left what looked like it had been decaying for over a thousand years, and to my right there was completely nothing but a swollen desert of rock, bone and dust. I could taste the dried blood that had sat there for only the planet knows how long, and that disgusted me. This place disgusted me, this air, this sand, these homes, and these people: all of them.

 

You see, that’s what Tatooine is, a vast planet of nothing. Only the lowest of the lowest come here for a place to stay or a job to find: or, if you are into that area already, trying to find a place to lie low for a while.

 

Unfortunately, that was me at the moment. I made some bad decisions about some bad things and now I have a bounty on my head so large that it could probably fund another project the size of Coruscant. OK, maybe that was a little exaggerated but it’s still a big bounty what ever you say.

 

I stood up to my feet, dusted off my clothes, and hitched my blaster to the belt I wore around my waist that held the rest of my belongings. Not just my pants. Roughing my hair up to get the grains of sand out of it, I started to walk towards the building that I was at last night. Bad idea, probably, but there was nowhere else for another half of an hour for me to get a drink. And this desert can get pretty hot if you’re out here for too long.

 

Walking inside I could already smell last nights vomit. Not from myself of course, but from the young lady I was drinking with. At least, I think it was a lady; I hope anyway. I walked up to the bar and flicked some credits up to the bartender.

 

“A hit of Juma, thanks,” I said. Then stopped and thought. “Make that two,” I added.

 

The barman nodded and went to go get my drinks. I looked around at who else was in the cantina. There were two devaronians in the back left-hand corner; a lone Twi’liek sitting near the stage and a pair of suspicious looking rodians discussing something quietly amongst themselves near the back of the place. After paying for my drinks, I decided to walk over to the Twi’liek and asked if I could have a seat.

 

“Sure,” he said. “Go for your life.”

 

I sat down and took a sip out of my shot of Juma and winced. “There’s nothing like a good shot of a wake-me-up to get over the bad headache from the night before.” I said.

 

The Twi’liek laughed softly and nodded his head. “I know what you mean.” He replied.

 

I extended my hand. “The name’s Drav by the way. Drav Jhul.”

 

The Twi’liek shook my hand and said, “Khurn Havis.”

 

“So, Khurn,” I said. “What brings you to this wretched place of a planet?”

 

Khurn smirked. “I guess I just needed a holiday, and after picking out a random planet, I found my way here.”

 

“Exactly like me,” I laughed. Of course that wasn’t why I was here, and I knew for sure that that wasn’t why Khurn was here either. But he didn’t ask for details about my visit, so I wouldn’t ask him.

 

“What about you?” he asked. I cringed inwardly. “I guess you already know about the lie I just told. So how about this: you tell me about yourself, then I’ll tell you?”

 

I looked at Khurn. I’m not exactly sure as to how, but I knew that he was genuine. Not undercover or just a random thug out looking for a bounty, but completely genuine.

 

“Sure,” I said. “Why not?”

 

*

 

Do you know what its like to be betrayed? To have the last strain of hope pulled out from underneath you so you fall down into the depths of an abyss full of despair and false dreams?

 

It may sound cliché, but it’s exactly what had happened to me.

 

I know you have heard of the Exchange right? Well, I was in it. And I was high up. On Telos, a few years after the Sith Bombing, I went to Citadel Station to see Lopak Slusk. The head honcho that represented the Exchange there; I was looking for a job and got desperate, so what? After a strenuous effort of trying to even get a meeting with this guy, I finally had the interview and he offered me a job.

 

The first couple of months went alright. Just spice smuggling, bounties that needed to be taken care of, that sort of thing. Then the big orders came, and that’s when I started to climb the ranks. I was good, and I mean really good. I could take out an entire Cantina full of bounties in one go and escape with even being a suspect. That’s what the Exchange liked about me and that was what they were after they had said.

 

I reached up the ladders to be Slusk’s right-hand-man. I would get the biggest cash out jobs, the deadliest jobs, and the most fun. That was when she came. Luxa I think her name was. I don’t know, it’s been such a long time and after trying to forget everything I had ever done with the Exchange, I can only remember a handful of names.

 

She was energetic, talented and lethal. Boy was she lethal. This was why I guess I was so attracted to her. But then she started to take my rollouts, and that’s just something you do not do with me.

 

I aimed to have her taken care of. I set up the entire arrangement, the location, the weapons needed, the men used: everything. And I went to watch. This, in the end result was to be the most stupid thing I could ever have done.

 

Unbeknownst to me, she had already paid the Gamorrean guards to do me in instead. I fought my way out of course, took after her and found myself in a cantina full of blood, my prints everywhere and every single TSF agent on the Station pouncing on me.

 

I let my blaster do the negotiating. Now that I think about it, I should have let them take me in, it would have been better than murdering nearly half the staff of the TSF. They were good guys, most of them. I was friends with one name Tsu. He was close enough to be considered my best friend.

 

I remember one of the last conversations we had together. He asked me a question, at the time I didn’t understand what he meant by it, but now I do. It was, “to get what you want, what would you be willing to sacrifice and why?” I remember looking at him thinking he was more drunk than what I thought he was, but before I could even think about answering, I was called into work.

 

That was a week before the betrayal. I found out that Tsu was partnered with Luxa, and that more than anything tore me to shreds. He told me himself you know, what he had done, and what he planned to do with me once the rest of the TSF came in the cantina. He was paid to kill me, and apparently that meant more to him than our friendship.

 

But before anything else could happen, in the spur of that moment where all reason dissolved from my brain, I shot him. I shot him right in the forehead. The mess it left was unbelievable. I thought I was going to choke from the stench of cooked flesh.

 

That was when I ran. And I’ve been running since …

 

*

 

“And now I have an answer for that question he asked me,” I continued as I looked at Khurn. “I will do anything and everything. I will sacrifice my entire life if it means I will be able to have the satisfaction to see the shocked look on Luxa’s face as I kill her. And I will sacrifice everything just to see Tsu one last time, to ask why he did what he did.”

 

I went to take a sip out of my glass and realized that it was empty. I snorted.

 

“Time for another Juma,” I said, standing up, but Khurn grabbed me by the arm and sat me back down in the chair.

 

“This one’s on me,” he said.

 

 

 

THE END

[JediAthos]

Really cool story man. It's strange what revenge can do to some people and what they'll give up to see it through.

[Ztalker]

Hmmm...pazaak, betrayal...it could be one of those ubercool Han Solo stories!

 

Very nice...it's refresing to see a non-jedi focussed story every so now and then.

[Bee Hoon]

Nice stuff! I like the whole voice of the story.

At least, I think it was a lady; I hope anyway.

This just cracked me up, lol.

 

As Ztalker said, it's nice to see a story that's not Jedi-centric, and also a nice touch that it wasn't for love (although friendship is a kind of love, but I digress). Good job!

[Diego Varen]

This was very good and you improved, since I last saw what you wrote (I can't remember what though). It's interesting reading a one-shot from the perspective of a scoundrel-Han Solo/Atton Rand character and as Ztalker and Bee Hoon already said, different from the normal Jedi story.

[Tysyacha]

Wow--and here I thought all "sacrifice stories" and the motives for such had to be noble! Congratulations on shattering one of my preconceptions about this month's topic, and for delighting me with the razor-edge sharpness and "everyday evil" of the characters! This got my vote!

[Rev7]

Very nice job BFA! It was a great story centered around average people. There is just something that is sobering about that. By that I mean, it is nice not to know that the Star Wars Universe isn't just centered around Jedi. Great job man!

[igyman]

A very interesting story. The style was great and the plot was, well, as I've said very interesting. Grammar-wise (don't kill me ) I saw maybe two typos, but nothing that would ruin the overall impression of the fic. Nice work.