Post by obawinn8403 on Nov 4, 2005 0:07:16 GMT -5
It’s Just a Job:
A Star Wars Tale
By Ben Watkins
Dontiss loved the smell of smoke and the look of flames. Maybe it was a coincidence that his second name was Singe, or maybe his parents knew something when he was born. Nevertheless, fire was his favorite way of completing missions and destroying targets. Being an ex-soldier, there wasn’t much action left except to be a hired assassin. That’s how he met Revo.
A gossam named Fensh wanted to kill Revo. That was no surprise since there weren’t many who wouldn’t want to after having an encounter with him. Revo had the terrible tendency to do what was right, and most beings would hate you for that, especially in the Outer Rim. Revo upheld this tendency when he started working for Fensh.
Fensh was hacking into accounts and stealing credits out of every transfer of funds through the holonet. Revo decided to reprogram Fensh’s computer to put the money back to the rightful accounts, and also a little extra out of Fensh’s pocket. Fensh did not take this lightly. After checking security holograms, Fensh discovered the culprit a little too late. Revo was already jumping into hyperspace to his next destination, wherever that may be.
Fensh immediately went to work planning his revenge. He knew that a bounty would take too long, and that would give Revo too much time to get the authorities over to investigate his operation. Fensh needed something quick. Something that looks like an accident. Something cheap. An assassin. Fensh had heard of an ex-soldier who was obsessed with fire and just happened to be in the Outer Rim territories. Perfect.
Fensh sent for Dontiss Singe to come as soon as possible.
“I heard you need someone taken care of.”
Turning around in his chair, Fensh was face to face with Singe. His padded armor looked scorched, as if he walked through the lava pits of Mustafar. Strapped to his arms, he carried large flamethrowers, his most used tool of his trade. And protecting his head was a scathed and scorched mandalorian helmet.
“A mandalorian. I had no idea.” Fensh’s words barely fell past his lips as he gazed into an all too familiar T-visor.
“But no complaints here, mandalorians are the best for these sorts of jobs.” Fensh gulped. Even aboard his own ship, the Tai Min, he didn’t feel completely safe.
“Just tell me about the job, and I will make sure it gets carried out exactly as you want. No bounty hunter can guarantee that.”
Looking into that visor made Fensh feel a fiery pain in his chest, as if Singe could burn his soul. Composing himself quickly, Fensh spoke quickly and harshly.
“Fine then, I’ll get right to the point. A former employee of mine was caught stealing credits from my accounts. He hacked his way into my mainframe computer and took everything. I need you to find him, recover the credits, and then kill him. Make it look like an accident. I don’t want his body found, or if it is, I don’t want it to be identified. Understood?” Fensh was bold to speak condescendingly to one such as Singe. He had a reputation for burning employers he didn’t like. But Fensh was willing to take the risk to show Singe he was not afraid.
“Simple enough. I need to be paid in advance for this sort of mission.”
“Outrageous! I have never paid in advance for anything!”
Singe leaned in closer to the short gossam, who seemed to shrink in his chair from fear. “Let’s just say it’ll keep my mouth shut, seeing how you want to be so discreet about this.”
“Well, since you put it that way, it looks like I have no other choice.” Fensh leaned over in his chair toward his small keyboard and punched a few buttons.
“There. I have wired five thousand to your account. That should be more than enough for your services.”
“I will require another thousand. For fuel and traveling expenses.” Sarcasm was almost apparent in Singe’s voice. He knew that Fensh would try to underpay him.
Fensh could not argue this one out. The more time Singe spent aboard his ship, the more chance that someone will notice that there is an assassin aboard, and that leads to questions. Questions is exactly what Fensh did not want right now.
“Fine. Just as long as the job gets done . . . professionally.”
“Of course.” And with a nod of his head, Singe was out the door toward his docked ship. Fensh sat back in his chair with a sigh of relief. “It’s over. No one can survive Singe,” he thought to himself.
Coming out of hyperspace. Dontiss’s ship computer flashes message after message, confirming what he already knew. Checking coordinates. Definite hit. Ship signature match. Docking bay 23. Dontiss looks down at his navicomputer with curiosity. “Nar Shadaa. Why did you come to Nar Shadaa when you should be trying to hide? This couldn’t get easier.” Dontiss reached down to activate his comlink. “This is the Sinfurno requesting permission to land in docking bay 20.”
“Permission granted Sinfurno.”
The Sinfurno touched down on pad 20, with the repulsor rockets shooting out flames. Dontiss added these more for intimidation than function. When Dontiss exited his ship, it was obvious these beings had seen him before, or at least heard of him. He could smell the stench of fear among the lowly inhabitants of the spaceport. As he walked into the vertically built industrious city, he began thinking of his next move on this mission.
“He’ll probably be in a cantina . . . enough of a crowd to hide in.” Dontiss calculated to himself what cantina Revo would most likely be in. He pulled a small datapad out of his pouch and reviewed the description that Fensh gave him. “A human with a cybernetic eye and brown hair with black in the front . . . he should stick out like a stormtrooper in a Rebel base.” Dontiss chuckled to himself as he reflected over how easily he just made six thousand credits.
It wasn’t long before Dontiss reached the nearest cantina to Revo’s landing platform. “Nygann cantina . . . not the biggest on this moon, but a great place for sabaac. And I have a feeling that is where our friend is going with all his new found wealth.”
Dontiss approached the cantina with his usual stride, just slow enough to see every being cower in fear. As he passed the doorway, sentients would become quiet and look away. Dontiss sat at the bar and called the bartender over.
“Let me have an Antakarian Fire Dancer.”
Dontiss removed his helmet and scanned the room as he sipped his fire dancer. It almost seemed pointless for Dontiss to remain conspicuous at this point, most in the cantina had either left or have been whispering quietly ever since his arrival.
“Looking for someone?” The voice seemed to appear out of nowhere. Dontiss turned in his chair to find a human male with a cybernetic eye sitting next to him.
“Maybe.” Dontiss paused a moment, taking another drink and pulling a small pistol from its holster to aim directly at the man. “By the way, I’ll be taking that blaster now, Revo.” Revo removed the blaster from its holster and set it on the bar in front of Dontiss.
Revo looked at Dontiss and gave a sigh. “I figured someone would be along eventually. Let’s just get this over with.”
“Let’s take a walk.” Dontiss tossed the bartender credits for his drink, put his mandalorian helmet back on, and led Revo outside with both guns digging into Revo’s back. “I know of an abandoned apartment that is just an accident waiting to happen.”
They began to walk outside. Revo looked toward the sky and breathed deeply. “Such a nice clear night, for Nar Shadaa I mean. Terrible waste of a night to be dying in so soon.”
“Don’t keep quiet and it’ll be over even sooner than you think.” Dontiss lunged his gun forward, expecting to dig into Revo’s back even harder. But that’s not what happened.
When Dontiss’s gun lunged forward, Revo turned out of the way, sending Dontiss’s arm forward instead. Revo pulled his lightsaber and quickly split Dontiss’s firearm into two smoldering hunks of metal. Then grabbing his own gun out of Dontiss’s grasp, Revo held the gun on Dontiss and withdrew his lightsaber.
“I never thought I would have ever crossed paths with a Jedi. This could get interesting.” With a fast tumble to his side, Dontiss kicked the large blaster from Revo’s hands. As Revo watched the blaster for a brief moment, flames began to surround him. Dontiss ignited both of his wrist flame throwers, engulfing Revo with flames. After all his fuel was spent, Dontiss waited for the smoke to clear so he could haul the burned carcass to the apartment.
Black smoke rose all around. Dontiss squinted his eyes, trying to make out any shape in the darkness. As he entered the fog of smoke, Dontiss thought he saw a flicker of light. With a quick duck, Dontiss avoided getting jangoed, but his rangefinder was singed in two and now useless. Dontiss managed to get a few shots out of his wrist blasters, but Revo only deflected them, and then disabled each gauntlet with his lightsaber. Revo stands, lightsaber at Dontiss’s throat.
“Surrender.”
Dontiss removed his helmet and gave a reluctant nod.
“Good. I have spared your life. Let’s go have a drink . . . and talk.”
“One more round of Blue Ale, please.” Revo tossed a few coins to the waitress for the drinks, and his gratitude. Dontiss had to get Revo’s attention once more.
“Hey, I am over here, Revo. It’s just a waitress, you don’t have to gawk.”
“May I remind you that I can sense things that you have only dreamt. She is not only a waitress, and she doesn’t always look that way either.”
Dontiss looked at him in confusion at first, but then shook his head and gave a slight chuckle.
“You always were the lady’s man of our endeavors.” Dontiss swirled his drink before taking a gulp. “Like that time on Ralltiir.”
“We were in the area . . . and besides, she needed rescuing.”
“And then you had to return her to her home planet . . . on the other side of the galaxy. By the way, what did you two do for that long trip across the galaxy?”
“That’s none of your business.” Both men laughed. Revo took another drink. Dontiss continued talking.
“I wasn’t on Ralltiir to find women; I was there to get the reward. Investigating stolen shipments of Ralltiiri marble was not easy, and we deserved more from Xwizimarble than a lousy ten thousand credits. I still think we should have kept some of the marble we found, each shipment was worth five million . . . more than enough for the both of us to get new ships.”
“Oh yes, the marble. We were helping the Rebellion, remember? We weren’t trying to steal it ourselves.
“Yes, and once the Empire is gone, guys like us won’t have to worry about hiding on backwater worlds all the time. I heard this story before.”
“You cannot say you have love for the Empire.”
“Of course I don’t, but do you really think the Rebels have a chance? There have been rumors of a big nasty battle on Hoth. I heard the Rebels ran away screaming like cowards. There is nothing we can do to change what is going to happen. One way or the other, we still need to make our way in this galaxy no matter who’s in charge.”
“I suppose you’re right . . . sometimes.”
Dontiss looked at Revo like a Bantha who was about to be processed. Revo laughed quietly.
“You were the one who had our escape route planned when we found the evidence we needed . . . and then there was the casting hawk nest. We were tangled in that sap for hours! It was a good thing the hawks carried us away or otherwise some agents of Ralltiir Consolidated Marble might have caught up.”
“How was I supposed to know there was an entire population of casting hawks right along our escape route?!”
“That’s why some of us can use the Force.”
“Are you saying you knew about it?!”
“Maybe.”
Dontiss looked at Revo a moment, then both men let out a burst of laughter, patting each other on the shoulders.
“You are like my brother, Revo.”
“Really? Like the one you killed or the one that’s still alive?” Another round of laughter ensued. After taking another drink, Dontiss noticed they were drawing attention to themselves. He motioned to Revo they were being watched.
“I thought we may have been safe meeting on Nar Shadaa, but it seems someone else has taken interest in our conversation.” Dontiss moved his head slowly in the direction of their watcher. Revo’s eyes squinted into almost slits.
“Let’s go outside a moment for fresh air, Dontiss.”
“Good idea.”
Revo and Dontiss left Nygann cantina, walking with an unbalanced stride as if they drank a bit much blue ale. Revo could sense the hooded and cloaked besalisk trying to keep his distance. Revo and Dontiss staggered into a nearby alleyway. The besalisk, close behind, turned round the corner to find an empty alley. As he looked about frantically, Dontiss stepped out of the shadow.
“Why were you following me?” The flat dark tone of his voice caused the besalisk to sweat even more than usual.
“And why did you seem so interested in our conversation?” Revo emerged from the darkness into the faint moonlight.
The besalisk recklessly turned and tried to run, but was pulled back onto the ground by some unseen force. Dontiss bent down next to the creature, holding his flamethrower next to its throat.
“You will tell us, or you will burn.”
A large gulp sounded in the besalisk’s throat. It barely uttered the word “Singe” in the back of its throat. By now there was a pool of sweat reaching as far as where Revo stood.
“I was only doing what I was paid to do. It was just a job.”
“What kind of job would that be?” Revo paced back and forth in front of the creature.
“I was supposed to follow you . . . find out where you were going. Provide information, that’s all.”
“Information for whom?” Dontiss’s voice began to sizzle under his breath. “Don’t make me lose my patience.”
“I can’t tell you . . . they’ll kill me.”
“And that will happen much sooner if you don’t tell us.” Dontiss’s eyes burned with a red blaze behind the dark t-visor.
“I . . . can’t . . .”
‘Then burn!” Dontiss moved his arm around to the front of the creature, making sure it could see the trigger in his hands to activate the gauntlet.
“Wait.”
Dontiss stopped and looked at Revo. The besalisk looked in turn, its eyes filled with the glimmer of hope that Revo might stop Singe’s madness. The besalisk did not get what he wanted.
“I have a better idea.” Revo gave a small smirk. Dontiss grinned back.
The besalisks toes dangled above the high vertical city of Nar Shadaa. Revo and Dontiss stood on the roof, weapons sheathed, watching him dangle in the air like a Divto snake hanging from the trees of Endor.
“I almost forgot to ask, what is your name?” Dontiss grinned as he interrogated the little creature, just waiting for it to crack under pressure.
“Why should I tell you? Tell your friend to set me down and I might tell you.”
“Oh no, I wouldn’t want to disturb him, he might lose his concentration. Let me demonstrate. Hey Revo, remember that girl at the Nygann?”
The besalisk’s body started to slowly move downward, and then dropped. He must have fallen a few meters before being caught by the Force again. The besalisk let out a screech unlike anything they had heard before. It then began pleading for its pitiful life.
“Please! I implore you; do not avert his focus again! My name is Smorg! Smorg!”
“Now we are getting somewhere. Tell me again who it is you are working for? Remember, it is a long way down from here. They’ll have to scrude up what is left of you. We are reasonable gentlemen here, so we’ll make you a deal. There is no one else up here but the three of us. You can whisper to me who it is you are working for, and we’ll disappear.”
Smorg seemed to calculate and weigh his options. After looking down one last time, he nodded for Dontiss to come to him. Dontiss approached. Smorg gestured his hand for Dontiss to come closer. Just as Dontiss was within arm’s reach, Smorg pulled a small blaster pistol and shot Revo in his shoulder, singing through his robes and skin. Revo fell over, and Smorg fell to his death.
“Well, that’s the end of it.” Dontiss looked down as Smorg seemed to shrink into the distance before he ever met the cold hard ground some kilometers below.
“Not really, now we know there is someone after us.” Revo pushed himself back upright, holding his left shoulder.
“You need to have that looked at.”
“I’ll be fine. What’s our next move?” Revo tore some of his robes for a makeshift bandage.
“Another job has come up; I’ll tell you about it on the way.”
The Core Worlds. Corellia. An apartment complex in Tyrena. The 11th floor. Room 1118. Black smoke filled the room. Flames reflected in the dark visor of Singe, who was still inside.
“That was too easy. I almost didn’t need Revo at Groola’s Place creating distraction. Lak never saw it coming, but I saw the credits piled up as reward for his demise. Groola was wise to call in the specialist.”
Singe couldn’t help but muse over his triumph.
“Now let’s set up the rendevous and blow this rock.” Singe pulled out a small comlink. “Revo, this is Dontiss. Meet me at the coordinates I am sending you. Bring the ship low to the surface for the pick up.”
“You got it. I just finished creating the rumors around Groola’s Place.”
Dontiss put away his comlink and looked around trying to get his bearings again.
“What was that?” A dark shadow past him in the flames. Dontiss was not sure what he saw, if he saw anything at all. Shrugging his shoulders, Dontiss turned toward the exit door. He came through the doorway, his silhouette as black as smoke against the flickering flames behind him. He didn’t even seem to notice someone else outside as he headed toward the turbolift.
“You! What have you done?!”
Dontiss turned to see a mandalorian female with highly customized armor kneeling on the ground.
“You, you killed him!”
“I was just doing my job lady.” After saying this, Dontiss realized what it was she was kneeling over. A small charred dead body. The smoke still rose from what was the size of a child. The stench had just entered Dontiss’s nostrils. He almost gagged. Dontiss turned away, trying not to show the other mandalorian that the smell was making him ill.
“Who do you think you are that you can do such a thing?!”
“You can call me Singe.” Dontiss was still turned toward the direction of the turbolift, only meters away.
“Good. I’ll remember it…”
Dontiss turned back around, facing the female. She rose to her feet, fists clenched so hard that drips of blood could be seen exiting her palms.
“…so I can carve it in your tombstone!”
The female lunged at Dontiss, but he managed a quick dodge to the left. The vibroblade hidden in her grasp just barely missed him.
“Who are you lady?”
“Tane…Huntress Tane…the last name you’ll ever hear!”
“What did I do to you?!” As Dontiss spoke the words, she attacked him again, but this time with her blasters.
“You killed him! He was just a boy! He was innocent!”
Dontiss’s thoughts stopped. He dove for cover behind a maintenance droid. He quickly disabled the droid, so it would not move from its current position.
“Boy?” Dontiss was astounded with this information. That charred piece of flesh was a boy? Groola didn’t say Lak even had a son.
“Look, Tane, I didn’t know about any boy. I was just doing what I was paid to do.”
All Dontiss heard following what he said was a scream of fury, and a barrage of blaster bolts. He could feel the droid getting hot against his back. He pulled out his comlink. Well, I guess its time to call in the cavalry.
“Revo, this is Dontiss. I am in a bit of a situation. I am being attacked by a crazy female and I need your lady skills. I am just outside room 1110.”
“Check. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Better hurry, don’t know how long I can hold her off.”
Dontiss pulled his blaster and took a deep breath. He rolled out sideways from the droid and returned fire, forcing Tane into an empty apartment. He then prepared one of his wrist mounted flame throwers for when she decided to show her face. He waited…and waited. Nothing. Not a sound. Must have hit her.
Dontiss went a little closer, still aiming his flamethrower at the doorway. He tried to see inside the room, but it was too dark. Tane lunged at him out of the shadow and pierced his gauntlet with her vibroblade, straight through the chemical tank and his arm. Tane then gave a swift kick across Dontiss’s helmet, sending him to the ground. She stomped her foot on the ground, extending another hidden blade from within the heel. Just as she threw her foot down toward his neck, Dontiss kicked her other knee to send her to the floor.
Dontiss got up and began running for the turbolift. He could see the opening to the turbolift getting closer. The turbolift being open on his floor was a stroke of luck for him. When he could see the doorway passing behind him, he felt something catch his leg. He looked down as he fell forward to see a small grappling hook around his leg and at the other end was Tane. He hit the ground with his back, facing Tane. He pulled a small blade and cut the line as she approached. He then gave a hard kick to the door controls, shutting the doors right as Tane came up to the opening. Sparks flew from the panel. Dontiss sat nursing the wound to his arm.
He rested a moment. She must be crazy. A mandalorian should understand. Dontiss pulled his comlink again to contact Revo. Where is it? It must have fallen out. No matter. By the time she gets to the other turbolift, I can be out of this building and onto my ship.
The turbolift stopped. The doors opened. What? The roof? Dontiss didn’t think to check the direction he was headed in the turbolift after he smashed the controls. Dontiss tried to force himself to his feet, and slowly staggered toward the edge of the roof. He propped himself against the ledge, and pulled the dart launcher rifle off his back. Dontiss pulled out a large knock out dart and loaded it into the rifle. This ought to calm her down long enough for my escape. He aimed the rifle at the second turbolift that had roof access…and he waited.
Dontiss began his mission early in the morning to catch Lak off guard, but it was now almost mid day. The temperature on the roof began to rise rapidly, and the light from the sun created a glare strong enough to blind anyone who didn’t have protection over their eyes. Dontiss kept his target in his sight. If anything comes out of that turbolift, it’ll be down in seconds. Where is Revo? He should have been here by now.
A Star Wars Tale
By Ben Watkins
Dontiss loved the smell of smoke and the look of flames. Maybe it was a coincidence that his second name was Singe, or maybe his parents knew something when he was born. Nevertheless, fire was his favorite way of completing missions and destroying targets. Being an ex-soldier, there wasn’t much action left except to be a hired assassin. That’s how he met Revo.
A gossam named Fensh wanted to kill Revo. That was no surprise since there weren’t many who wouldn’t want to after having an encounter with him. Revo had the terrible tendency to do what was right, and most beings would hate you for that, especially in the Outer Rim. Revo upheld this tendency when he started working for Fensh.
Fensh was hacking into accounts and stealing credits out of every transfer of funds through the holonet. Revo decided to reprogram Fensh’s computer to put the money back to the rightful accounts, and also a little extra out of Fensh’s pocket. Fensh did not take this lightly. After checking security holograms, Fensh discovered the culprit a little too late. Revo was already jumping into hyperspace to his next destination, wherever that may be.
Fensh immediately went to work planning his revenge. He knew that a bounty would take too long, and that would give Revo too much time to get the authorities over to investigate his operation. Fensh needed something quick. Something that looks like an accident. Something cheap. An assassin. Fensh had heard of an ex-soldier who was obsessed with fire and just happened to be in the Outer Rim territories. Perfect.
Fensh sent for Dontiss Singe to come as soon as possible.
“I heard you need someone taken care of.”
Turning around in his chair, Fensh was face to face with Singe. His padded armor looked scorched, as if he walked through the lava pits of Mustafar. Strapped to his arms, he carried large flamethrowers, his most used tool of his trade. And protecting his head was a scathed and scorched mandalorian helmet.
“A mandalorian. I had no idea.” Fensh’s words barely fell past his lips as he gazed into an all too familiar T-visor.
“But no complaints here, mandalorians are the best for these sorts of jobs.” Fensh gulped. Even aboard his own ship, the Tai Min, he didn’t feel completely safe.
“Just tell me about the job, and I will make sure it gets carried out exactly as you want. No bounty hunter can guarantee that.”
Looking into that visor made Fensh feel a fiery pain in his chest, as if Singe could burn his soul. Composing himself quickly, Fensh spoke quickly and harshly.
“Fine then, I’ll get right to the point. A former employee of mine was caught stealing credits from my accounts. He hacked his way into my mainframe computer and took everything. I need you to find him, recover the credits, and then kill him. Make it look like an accident. I don’t want his body found, or if it is, I don’t want it to be identified. Understood?” Fensh was bold to speak condescendingly to one such as Singe. He had a reputation for burning employers he didn’t like. But Fensh was willing to take the risk to show Singe he was not afraid.
“Simple enough. I need to be paid in advance for this sort of mission.”
“Outrageous! I have never paid in advance for anything!”
Singe leaned in closer to the short gossam, who seemed to shrink in his chair from fear. “Let’s just say it’ll keep my mouth shut, seeing how you want to be so discreet about this.”
“Well, since you put it that way, it looks like I have no other choice.” Fensh leaned over in his chair toward his small keyboard and punched a few buttons.
“There. I have wired five thousand to your account. That should be more than enough for your services.”
“I will require another thousand. For fuel and traveling expenses.” Sarcasm was almost apparent in Singe’s voice. He knew that Fensh would try to underpay him.
Fensh could not argue this one out. The more time Singe spent aboard his ship, the more chance that someone will notice that there is an assassin aboard, and that leads to questions. Questions is exactly what Fensh did not want right now.
“Fine. Just as long as the job gets done . . . professionally.”
“Of course.” And with a nod of his head, Singe was out the door toward his docked ship. Fensh sat back in his chair with a sigh of relief. “It’s over. No one can survive Singe,” he thought to himself.
Coming out of hyperspace. Dontiss’s ship computer flashes message after message, confirming what he already knew. Checking coordinates. Definite hit. Ship signature match. Docking bay 23. Dontiss looks down at his navicomputer with curiosity. “Nar Shadaa. Why did you come to Nar Shadaa when you should be trying to hide? This couldn’t get easier.” Dontiss reached down to activate his comlink. “This is the Sinfurno requesting permission to land in docking bay 20.”
“Permission granted Sinfurno.”
The Sinfurno touched down on pad 20, with the repulsor rockets shooting out flames. Dontiss added these more for intimidation than function. When Dontiss exited his ship, it was obvious these beings had seen him before, or at least heard of him. He could smell the stench of fear among the lowly inhabitants of the spaceport. As he walked into the vertically built industrious city, he began thinking of his next move on this mission.
“He’ll probably be in a cantina . . . enough of a crowd to hide in.” Dontiss calculated to himself what cantina Revo would most likely be in. He pulled a small datapad out of his pouch and reviewed the description that Fensh gave him. “A human with a cybernetic eye and brown hair with black in the front . . . he should stick out like a stormtrooper in a Rebel base.” Dontiss chuckled to himself as he reflected over how easily he just made six thousand credits.
It wasn’t long before Dontiss reached the nearest cantina to Revo’s landing platform. “Nygann cantina . . . not the biggest on this moon, but a great place for sabaac. And I have a feeling that is where our friend is going with all his new found wealth.”
Dontiss approached the cantina with his usual stride, just slow enough to see every being cower in fear. As he passed the doorway, sentients would become quiet and look away. Dontiss sat at the bar and called the bartender over.
“Let me have an Antakarian Fire Dancer.”
Dontiss removed his helmet and scanned the room as he sipped his fire dancer. It almost seemed pointless for Dontiss to remain conspicuous at this point, most in the cantina had either left or have been whispering quietly ever since his arrival.
“Looking for someone?” The voice seemed to appear out of nowhere. Dontiss turned in his chair to find a human male with a cybernetic eye sitting next to him.
“Maybe.” Dontiss paused a moment, taking another drink and pulling a small pistol from its holster to aim directly at the man. “By the way, I’ll be taking that blaster now, Revo.” Revo removed the blaster from its holster and set it on the bar in front of Dontiss.
Revo looked at Dontiss and gave a sigh. “I figured someone would be along eventually. Let’s just get this over with.”
“Let’s take a walk.” Dontiss tossed the bartender credits for his drink, put his mandalorian helmet back on, and led Revo outside with both guns digging into Revo’s back. “I know of an abandoned apartment that is just an accident waiting to happen.”
They began to walk outside. Revo looked toward the sky and breathed deeply. “Such a nice clear night, for Nar Shadaa I mean. Terrible waste of a night to be dying in so soon.”
“Don’t keep quiet and it’ll be over even sooner than you think.” Dontiss lunged his gun forward, expecting to dig into Revo’s back even harder. But that’s not what happened.
When Dontiss’s gun lunged forward, Revo turned out of the way, sending Dontiss’s arm forward instead. Revo pulled his lightsaber and quickly split Dontiss’s firearm into two smoldering hunks of metal. Then grabbing his own gun out of Dontiss’s grasp, Revo held the gun on Dontiss and withdrew his lightsaber.
“I never thought I would have ever crossed paths with a Jedi. This could get interesting.” With a fast tumble to his side, Dontiss kicked the large blaster from Revo’s hands. As Revo watched the blaster for a brief moment, flames began to surround him. Dontiss ignited both of his wrist flame throwers, engulfing Revo with flames. After all his fuel was spent, Dontiss waited for the smoke to clear so he could haul the burned carcass to the apartment.
Black smoke rose all around. Dontiss squinted his eyes, trying to make out any shape in the darkness. As he entered the fog of smoke, Dontiss thought he saw a flicker of light. With a quick duck, Dontiss avoided getting jangoed, but his rangefinder was singed in two and now useless. Dontiss managed to get a few shots out of his wrist blasters, but Revo only deflected them, and then disabled each gauntlet with his lightsaber. Revo stands, lightsaber at Dontiss’s throat.
“Surrender.”
Dontiss removed his helmet and gave a reluctant nod.
“Good. I have spared your life. Let’s go have a drink . . . and talk.”
“One more round of Blue Ale, please.” Revo tossed a few coins to the waitress for the drinks, and his gratitude. Dontiss had to get Revo’s attention once more.
“Hey, I am over here, Revo. It’s just a waitress, you don’t have to gawk.”
“May I remind you that I can sense things that you have only dreamt. She is not only a waitress, and she doesn’t always look that way either.”
Dontiss looked at him in confusion at first, but then shook his head and gave a slight chuckle.
“You always were the lady’s man of our endeavors.” Dontiss swirled his drink before taking a gulp. “Like that time on Ralltiir.”
“We were in the area . . . and besides, she needed rescuing.”
“And then you had to return her to her home planet . . . on the other side of the galaxy. By the way, what did you two do for that long trip across the galaxy?”
“That’s none of your business.” Both men laughed. Revo took another drink. Dontiss continued talking.
“I wasn’t on Ralltiir to find women; I was there to get the reward. Investigating stolen shipments of Ralltiiri marble was not easy, and we deserved more from Xwizimarble than a lousy ten thousand credits. I still think we should have kept some of the marble we found, each shipment was worth five million . . . more than enough for the both of us to get new ships.”
“Oh yes, the marble. We were helping the Rebellion, remember? We weren’t trying to steal it ourselves.
“Yes, and once the Empire is gone, guys like us won’t have to worry about hiding on backwater worlds all the time. I heard this story before.”
“You cannot say you have love for the Empire.”
“Of course I don’t, but do you really think the Rebels have a chance? There have been rumors of a big nasty battle on Hoth. I heard the Rebels ran away screaming like cowards. There is nothing we can do to change what is going to happen. One way or the other, we still need to make our way in this galaxy no matter who’s in charge.”
“I suppose you’re right . . . sometimes.”
Dontiss looked at Revo like a Bantha who was about to be processed. Revo laughed quietly.
“You were the one who had our escape route planned when we found the evidence we needed . . . and then there was the casting hawk nest. We were tangled in that sap for hours! It was a good thing the hawks carried us away or otherwise some agents of Ralltiir Consolidated Marble might have caught up.”
“How was I supposed to know there was an entire population of casting hawks right along our escape route?!”
“That’s why some of us can use the Force.”
“Are you saying you knew about it?!”
“Maybe.”
Dontiss looked at Revo a moment, then both men let out a burst of laughter, patting each other on the shoulders.
“You are like my brother, Revo.”
“Really? Like the one you killed or the one that’s still alive?” Another round of laughter ensued. After taking another drink, Dontiss noticed they were drawing attention to themselves. He motioned to Revo they were being watched.
“I thought we may have been safe meeting on Nar Shadaa, but it seems someone else has taken interest in our conversation.” Dontiss moved his head slowly in the direction of their watcher. Revo’s eyes squinted into almost slits.
“Let’s go outside a moment for fresh air, Dontiss.”
“Good idea.”
Revo and Dontiss left Nygann cantina, walking with an unbalanced stride as if they drank a bit much blue ale. Revo could sense the hooded and cloaked besalisk trying to keep his distance. Revo and Dontiss staggered into a nearby alleyway. The besalisk, close behind, turned round the corner to find an empty alley. As he looked about frantically, Dontiss stepped out of the shadow.
“Why were you following me?” The flat dark tone of his voice caused the besalisk to sweat even more than usual.
“And why did you seem so interested in our conversation?” Revo emerged from the darkness into the faint moonlight.
The besalisk recklessly turned and tried to run, but was pulled back onto the ground by some unseen force. Dontiss bent down next to the creature, holding his flamethrower next to its throat.
“You will tell us, or you will burn.”
A large gulp sounded in the besalisk’s throat. It barely uttered the word “Singe” in the back of its throat. By now there was a pool of sweat reaching as far as where Revo stood.
“I was only doing what I was paid to do. It was just a job.”
“What kind of job would that be?” Revo paced back and forth in front of the creature.
“I was supposed to follow you . . . find out where you were going. Provide information, that’s all.”
“Information for whom?” Dontiss’s voice began to sizzle under his breath. “Don’t make me lose my patience.”
“I can’t tell you . . . they’ll kill me.”
“And that will happen much sooner if you don’t tell us.” Dontiss’s eyes burned with a red blaze behind the dark t-visor.
“I . . . can’t . . .”
‘Then burn!” Dontiss moved his arm around to the front of the creature, making sure it could see the trigger in his hands to activate the gauntlet.
“Wait.”
Dontiss stopped and looked at Revo. The besalisk looked in turn, its eyes filled with the glimmer of hope that Revo might stop Singe’s madness. The besalisk did not get what he wanted.
“I have a better idea.” Revo gave a small smirk. Dontiss grinned back.
The besalisks toes dangled above the high vertical city of Nar Shadaa. Revo and Dontiss stood on the roof, weapons sheathed, watching him dangle in the air like a Divto snake hanging from the trees of Endor.
“I almost forgot to ask, what is your name?” Dontiss grinned as he interrogated the little creature, just waiting for it to crack under pressure.
“Why should I tell you? Tell your friend to set me down and I might tell you.”
“Oh no, I wouldn’t want to disturb him, he might lose his concentration. Let me demonstrate. Hey Revo, remember that girl at the Nygann?”
The besalisk’s body started to slowly move downward, and then dropped. He must have fallen a few meters before being caught by the Force again. The besalisk let out a screech unlike anything they had heard before. It then began pleading for its pitiful life.
“Please! I implore you; do not avert his focus again! My name is Smorg! Smorg!”
“Now we are getting somewhere. Tell me again who it is you are working for? Remember, it is a long way down from here. They’ll have to scrude up what is left of you. We are reasonable gentlemen here, so we’ll make you a deal. There is no one else up here but the three of us. You can whisper to me who it is you are working for, and we’ll disappear.”
Smorg seemed to calculate and weigh his options. After looking down one last time, he nodded for Dontiss to come to him. Dontiss approached. Smorg gestured his hand for Dontiss to come closer. Just as Dontiss was within arm’s reach, Smorg pulled a small blaster pistol and shot Revo in his shoulder, singing through his robes and skin. Revo fell over, and Smorg fell to his death.
“Well, that’s the end of it.” Dontiss looked down as Smorg seemed to shrink into the distance before he ever met the cold hard ground some kilometers below.
“Not really, now we know there is someone after us.” Revo pushed himself back upright, holding his left shoulder.
“You need to have that looked at.”
“I’ll be fine. What’s our next move?” Revo tore some of his robes for a makeshift bandage.
“Another job has come up; I’ll tell you about it on the way.”
The Core Worlds. Corellia. An apartment complex in Tyrena. The 11th floor. Room 1118. Black smoke filled the room. Flames reflected in the dark visor of Singe, who was still inside.
“That was too easy. I almost didn’t need Revo at Groola’s Place creating distraction. Lak never saw it coming, but I saw the credits piled up as reward for his demise. Groola was wise to call in the specialist.”
Singe couldn’t help but muse over his triumph.
“Now let’s set up the rendevous and blow this rock.” Singe pulled out a small comlink. “Revo, this is Dontiss. Meet me at the coordinates I am sending you. Bring the ship low to the surface for the pick up.”
“You got it. I just finished creating the rumors around Groola’s Place.”
Dontiss put away his comlink and looked around trying to get his bearings again.
“What was that?” A dark shadow past him in the flames. Dontiss was not sure what he saw, if he saw anything at all. Shrugging his shoulders, Dontiss turned toward the exit door. He came through the doorway, his silhouette as black as smoke against the flickering flames behind him. He didn’t even seem to notice someone else outside as he headed toward the turbolift.
“You! What have you done?!”
Dontiss turned to see a mandalorian female with highly customized armor kneeling on the ground.
“You, you killed him!”
“I was just doing my job lady.” After saying this, Dontiss realized what it was she was kneeling over. A small charred dead body. The smoke still rose from what was the size of a child. The stench had just entered Dontiss’s nostrils. He almost gagged. Dontiss turned away, trying not to show the other mandalorian that the smell was making him ill.
“Who do you think you are that you can do such a thing?!”
“You can call me Singe.” Dontiss was still turned toward the direction of the turbolift, only meters away.
“Good. I’ll remember it…”
Dontiss turned back around, facing the female. She rose to her feet, fists clenched so hard that drips of blood could be seen exiting her palms.
“…so I can carve it in your tombstone!”
The female lunged at Dontiss, but he managed a quick dodge to the left. The vibroblade hidden in her grasp just barely missed him.
“Who are you lady?”
“Tane…Huntress Tane…the last name you’ll ever hear!”
“What did I do to you?!” As Dontiss spoke the words, she attacked him again, but this time with her blasters.
“You killed him! He was just a boy! He was innocent!”
Dontiss’s thoughts stopped. He dove for cover behind a maintenance droid. He quickly disabled the droid, so it would not move from its current position.
“Boy?” Dontiss was astounded with this information. That charred piece of flesh was a boy? Groola didn’t say Lak even had a son.
“Look, Tane, I didn’t know about any boy. I was just doing what I was paid to do.”
All Dontiss heard following what he said was a scream of fury, and a barrage of blaster bolts. He could feel the droid getting hot against his back. He pulled out his comlink. Well, I guess its time to call in the cavalry.
“Revo, this is Dontiss. I am in a bit of a situation. I am being attacked by a crazy female and I need your lady skills. I am just outside room 1110.”
“Check. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Better hurry, don’t know how long I can hold her off.”
Dontiss pulled his blaster and took a deep breath. He rolled out sideways from the droid and returned fire, forcing Tane into an empty apartment. He then prepared one of his wrist mounted flame throwers for when she decided to show her face. He waited…and waited. Nothing. Not a sound. Must have hit her.
Dontiss went a little closer, still aiming his flamethrower at the doorway. He tried to see inside the room, but it was too dark. Tane lunged at him out of the shadow and pierced his gauntlet with her vibroblade, straight through the chemical tank and his arm. Tane then gave a swift kick across Dontiss’s helmet, sending him to the ground. She stomped her foot on the ground, extending another hidden blade from within the heel. Just as she threw her foot down toward his neck, Dontiss kicked her other knee to send her to the floor.
Dontiss got up and began running for the turbolift. He could see the opening to the turbolift getting closer. The turbolift being open on his floor was a stroke of luck for him. When he could see the doorway passing behind him, he felt something catch his leg. He looked down as he fell forward to see a small grappling hook around his leg and at the other end was Tane. He hit the ground with his back, facing Tane. He pulled a small blade and cut the line as she approached. He then gave a hard kick to the door controls, shutting the doors right as Tane came up to the opening. Sparks flew from the panel. Dontiss sat nursing the wound to his arm.
He rested a moment. She must be crazy. A mandalorian should understand. Dontiss pulled his comlink again to contact Revo. Where is it? It must have fallen out. No matter. By the time she gets to the other turbolift, I can be out of this building and onto my ship.
The turbolift stopped. The doors opened. What? The roof? Dontiss didn’t think to check the direction he was headed in the turbolift after he smashed the controls. Dontiss tried to force himself to his feet, and slowly staggered toward the edge of the roof. He propped himself against the ledge, and pulled the dart launcher rifle off his back. Dontiss pulled out a large knock out dart and loaded it into the rifle. This ought to calm her down long enough for my escape. He aimed the rifle at the second turbolift that had roof access…and he waited.
Dontiss began his mission early in the morning to catch Lak off guard, but it was now almost mid day. The temperature on the roof began to rise rapidly, and the light from the sun created a glare strong enough to blind anyone who didn’t have protection over their eyes. Dontiss kept his target in his sight. If anything comes out of that turbolift, it’ll be down in seconds. Where is Revo? He should have been here by now.