Disclaimer: This Star Wars story is a non-profit FanFiction, all rights and iconic characters belong to Disney/Lucasfilm LTD.
"Are you the one named Skye Cridmeen?" A cloaked man said, sitting at the edge of the cantina. None of the patrons noticed the unusual figure, it was as if he was completely invisible.
"Yeah, who's asking?" Skye said, caution coloring her voice as she sat down on the opposite side of the figure. She could barely peek out any details from his cloaked face… with the exception of two soul piercing eyes.
"I am. I have come with an opportunity of employment." The figure said, a subtle distortion becoming evident with every word spoken. This unnerved Skye, who tensed her hand around her blaster, one that helped her a lot in life. "In exchange, you shall earn what your heart truly seeks."
"What is the job?" Skye hesitantly said, quirking an eyebrow. Despite the slight distortion on the voice, the man seemed little more than a monk with a message. "Wait… what my heart truly seeks? What the kriff is that supposed to mean?"
"You are to head to the Old Republic ship, the Midnight's Bow and retrieve the lightsaber residing there." The man said, placing his hands on the table. The calm air became tense and able to be sliced by a proverbial vibroknife. "I cannot say much more, but it is something you have missed… something you must find out for yourself, and your physical reward shall be enough credits to repair your ship."
"Great… cryptic fortune riddles…" Skye said under her breath, standing up from the table. "Alright… I'll go get that lightsaber, assuming it's still there."
"Be wary, the ship is cursed." Before Skye could roll her eyes at the man's words, he continued with, "The spirit of the fallen Jedi shall not give up the lightsaber so easily… you must convince him."
"How am I supposed to do that, you think I'm some kind of Jedi?" Skye chuckled, about to have no more of the odd man's ramblings. Sure, she could do some really cool stuff… but move things with her mind? That sounded more like a dream than anything she had ever heard in her life.
"You are strong in the Force, but the choice you make to take up the path of the Ashla or the Bogah is up to you, young Cridmeen." The man said, eyes narrowing underneath the cloak. He stood up and walked to the exit of the cantina.
"Right, right." Skye said, walking away from the cantina after a moment of silence. Just what she needed in life, more issues… this time, the Jedi kind. "Now, time to get ready for the job." She mumbled as she pulled out her com-link, "Bolts… I got a job. It's safe, mostly… I need you to come with me, just in case."
"Skye?" Bolts said as he tapped the teen human's shoulder. She seemed to be in somewhat deep thought, snapping out of it with a brief frown. "Are we sure we should be doing this job?"
"Dude, relax. This job will be easy, nobody will be here to shoot us." Skye said with an air of confidence, tossing the hydrospanner through the airlock door. She waited for a moment, no turbolaser blasts… no shout of alarm. "See?" She turned back to Bolts and gave a reassuring smile.
"I still have a really bad feeling about this." Bolts said, somewhat content with the lack of activity, but a bad feeling continued to bubble in his processor. This job had bad karma written all over it in Aurebesh, a lightsaber in this day and age is painting a target on your back. He remembered the day that became fact, when he witnessed a battalion of Clones turn on the Jedi and callously blasted him.
"Well, bad feeling or not… we'll have to find that lightsaber." Skye retorted, walked through the airlock door, the long dead corpses of 501st Clones littered the ground. Each with lightsaber slices across their bodies, most likely the aftermath of Order 66. One had tightly clutched a Rotary Cannon, slumped against a door.
"Are you sure it could even be here?" Bolts said, kicking a DC-15 blaster away from his feet. It had been years since this ship had crashed on Tatooine, someone could've stolen the lightsaber long ago.
"The job guy said it there's some kind of curse here…" Skye said, scoffing after a moment… a Jedi was one thing, but a curse was pure fantasy. "Yeah, right." Even if it had been a few hours since speaking… the words continue to echo in her mind. Plus, he seemed somewhat enigmatic… almost as if the passing of time itself was meaningless to him.
"A curse?" Bolts said, tensing for a brief moment. He wondered why Skye didn't mention that much earlier. After a moment of pondering, the B1 realized that she knows that he would object greatly to this otherwise.
Skye walked forth, seeing a Mandalorian corpse on the ground. It looked fresh, compared to the ones that were earlier in the ship… must've been a Bounty Hunter. "Yeah, some ancient mystic voodoo. All a hoax to keep people away from this ship, Jedi don't set curses."
"Yeah… because they're the guardians of the peace." Bolts said, remembering the Jedi as they were in their prime. Generals fighting against the Droid Army during the Clone Wars, leading troops into battle. The B1 opened the door to the bridge, a skeletal corpse laying on the ground. "Must be the Jedi…"
Skye nodded, spotting a curved lightsaber still held in the Jedi's hand. She walked closer to the body and kneeled down, reaching for the ancient weapon. It was odd, and it made her wonder why nobody else had bothered to get it if it was this easy. "Who dares to disturb my resting place?" With a sharp yell of surprise, Skye backed away from the corpse. The voice sounded rough and angered, too indiscernible for a Human's voice.
"My name is Skye, didn't know you were still here… Jedi." Skye said, eyes searching for a possible source of the voice. There was almost none, no speakers of any kind to prove it was fake. It was real, this Jedi was some kind of ghost or a spectre. "I'm gonna just take that lightsaber and be on my way."
"Jedi?" Despite the growl in the voice, confusion can be found. "Jedi… I am no Jedi, I am…" The lightsaber began to glow red, bright red as if it was angered. "SITH!" The red glow lashed out and ensumed the entire ship, knocking Skye and Bolts off their feet. "You shall not take my lightsaber, you pathetic insect… soldiers of the hive, kill the intruders."
"Soldiers?" Bolts said, turning around to see the Clones rise to their feet. Even the Mandalorian stood up, beginning to march forward to the bridge's door. "Uh oh…" He aimed his blaster and open fired at the soldiers, the blaster bolts mostly hitting their mark… but doing nothing.
"This definitely wasn't in the job description." Skye said, pulling out her blaster pistol as she moved to grab the lightsaber from the corpse of the Je- Sith. It was difficult to do so, but she finally managed to pick it up… even in death, the Dark Sider had a tight grip on the saber. "Got it, let's get out of here!"
"Defiler! I'll hunt you to the ends of the galaxy!" The voice dripped with hatred as the undead continued to walk, Skye igniting the lightsaber. The lightsaber was a dark crimson, a rare color not usually found in the galaxy today… rarer than most kyber crystals.
"Roger roger!" Bolts said, watching Skye charge ahead and swing almost wildly. It wasn't graceful, elegant or even a technique, but it is making the horde uneasy. They back up, and those unlucky not to get out of the way were given new slices by the lightsaber.
After pushing the undead back far enough, Skye moved to the open airlock. The one that lead to the cave back to Mos Eisley… where she planned to have a word with her employer. "See ya." She said with sarcasm at the growling corpses, running out of the airlock with Bolts shortly behind.
It had been a long walk, but they finally reached Mos Eisley… and its cantina. The usual music played as the doors opened, patrons idly chatting with each other. "Take that trash droid out back." Aaaaaand there he was, the bartender that will forever be known as the guy that doesn't like Bolts. Skye simply tossed a rude gesture his way as she walked over to the cloaked figure with Bolts.
"You have made it back. Wonderful, do you have the lightsaber?" The cloaked man said, despite how happy he should sound… he sounded neutral. Skye narrowed her eyes as she slammed the lightsaber on the table, "Excellent… the Shadow will be greatly pleased."
"Now, my payment." Skye said, watching as the cloaked man dropped a deposit of credits onto the table. It was the perfect amount to repair the hyperdrive, just perfect enough to get off the planet and explore the Galaxy. "Well… Bolts, I think we're in business." She couldn't help the surprised smile on her face, it was finally time for the Ebon Hawk to soar again.
"Wait… there's a catch, right?" Bolts said with caution, watching Skye for a moment as she held the credits. He knew these kinds of situations from stories, he doubted that it would be over so soon… there was always a catch, no matter how small.
"Unfortunately, you are correct." The cloaked man said, watching as Skye quirked an eyebrow. "My employer may require your services in the future… with the deposit of credits is a holocommunicator." As if on queue the holocommunicator beeped with a bright blue light, sounding very high pitched almost at the point of being shrill and almost annoying.
"Fine…" Skye said, small bit of hope deflating for the most part like a balloon. It wasn't like she was surprised by this, it was that she was hoping the reward wouldn't be so… stringy.
"You are dismissed, young Cridmeen." The cloaked man once again walked away, now with the lightsaber in hand. The calm air blew around in the cantina as the Bith continued to play on their instruments.
"Let's go home, Bolts." Skye said, grasping the deposit of credits. She quickly checked the local time on her chronometer, it was now in the evening. Skye conceded that she should've gotten on this job sooner, nighttime was often the coldest on Tatooine.
"Roger roger." Bolts said, as he and Skye walked out into the almost darkened streets of Mos Eisley. Getting back to the Ebon Hawk was rather easy, as the two had laid out a path towards the ship… one that was mostly safe. "So… once we fix the ship, where do we go to first?"
"I dunno… maybe we could head to Coruscant? Or maybe Taris?" Skye seemed to contemplate on what planet should be the first destination for the two. It was a vast and expansive Galaxy, almost easy to move about… despite the Empire's restrictions upon travel. The teen would consider the options as she opened the ramp to the Hawk, walking up with Bolts.
A small scavenging ship landed in Mos Eisley's spaceport, a figure dropped down from the airlock. The figure was clothed in very typical smuggler-esque clothing, complete with added fingerless gloves and blaster holster. "Well… hello hive of scum and villainy. Alyx is here to blend in."
The figure, now Alyx, walked into the cantina. "Hey, pal. Give me some of the strong stuff." The 'pal' rolled his eyes, pouring Alyx a cup, handing it over to the Smuggler.
"What brings you to this mudhole, young lady?" One of the patrons, a Rodian spoke up with curiosity. Though, the green skinned man seemed cautious… and for good reason. Nobody in this cantina could be fully trusted, one must stay on edge in a den of smugglers, murderers and crime lords.
"Just some job opportunities." Alyx said, casually taking a long sip from the cup. It wasn't actual Corellian Wine, but it tasted rather similar to it. "Maybe some smuggling runs… who knows?"
Somewhere back within the Old Republic ship, the Sith growled and said, "The intruder shall pay for stealing my lightsaber." The 'soldiers' are once again dead, killed for their very cowardice and inability to protect the lightsaber's resting place. "I will return… I will return, and the entire Galaxy shall tremble at my feet!"