The Sith Holocron
The Twi'lek placed the pyramid shaped Sith holocron on the floor in front of him. He had felt it's power trembling in his hands. The power of knowledge. The power of wisdom. The power of the past. It was the power of the dark side. At least the Twi'lek hoped so. The power of the knowledge of Darth Bane.
"Die wannna wanga."
'Little vermin.' Glib Fortuna thought to himself.
The price he had paid for the Sith holocron was hefty. Slavery to a Toydarian. A Toydarian on Tatooine. Working in a junk shop. Slavery in a junk shop.
"So... you must want that thing pretty bad... You've been looking at it a long time... Uh..?" The Toydarian's wings fluttered his body to the height of the Twi'lek. He pretended to not know what his customer was looking at so intensely.
"Aahh...Jedi-thing...Huh?" Wings flapped as Tooba's voice mocked. "Cost lots of money... No?"
"Not a Jedi... Thing." Glib over pronounced the last word.
"Tome of the Sith."
"Yeah..." Wings flapping to propel him higher. "Like I said...Jedi." Tooba mock laughed.
"You fool. The Sith are not Jedi."
"Jedi in a bad mood I think, eh?"
The Toydarian lowered his stance and laughed flapping away.
"You buy it or not?"
There was silence.
"Nothing in the shop is free to a Jedi. Or one in a bad mood. Or a Twi'lek that doesn't know what he has in his hands."
Tooba landed on the floor in front of a shiny, new Pit Droid. He had been admiring it before interrupted by the Twi'lek's obsession with the Sith holocron.
Ancient Sith lore, most likely, was stored in the pyramid shaped device. Tooba had never been able to activate the device and had written it off to dead battery cells. Once the battery goes dead the holocron is useless. Jedi knowledge to Tooba was useless.
"What do you want to know about the Jedi...?" Tooba mocked. "I'll give you one free answer."
He laughed.
Glib Fortuna waved the Toydarian off.
"How much?" The Twi'lek asked. His eyes never left the device.
"The batteries are dead. It's useless. Why do you want it?"
Tooba knew very well what kind of information could possibly be on the memory of the holocron. There was nothing in the shop that he didn't know what it was or what it's value was. Whether the batteries were dead or not, it still had a price.
"Why don't you buy a Pit droid...huh?... Big money in the Pod Race... I have the best Pit droids on the world."
The Toydarian took to the air. He flew back to the Twi'lek and took the holocron from his hands.
"That's enough looking for now... It's shiny... I like it. I'll sit it on the counter for you."
His wings buzzed.
Glib showed his contempt with hissing teeth. He turned his head.
"How much?"
"It's very expensive... You can't afford the Legend of the Sith... I saw a Jedi looking at it yesterday."
Tooba tapped the round glass eye of the Pit droid's lamp shape head. The thing collapsed in a fluid motion.
"A thing of beauty."
Tooba put the holocron in his leather belt pouch and landed on the floor.
'I should just slit his throat and be off with the holocron.' The Twi'lek mused.
In fact, he would not leave without the device. He had spent the one hundred thirty thousand credits, he had stolen from the Hutts, bargaining for its location.
Glib was broke.
He got tricky.
"It's of no use to you... Jabba the Hutt requires it for his... collection."
"I know Jabba." The Toydarian's voice squeaked.
"Bring him to me and I will give it to him personally... a favor."
Tooba knew Jabba the Hutt would never fall beneath himself to visit a Tatooine junk store. Jabba keeps gangs of thugs and hanger-ons to do his light work... and his dirty work.
Tooba chuckled.
"Yes... Bring Jabba to me."
"Jabba..." He pretended to busy himself with the Pit droid.
The Twi'lek crossed the room near the Toydarian and raised his black hood. In a dark tone he spoke.
"I will take the holocron..." His eyes turned orange. "...and walk out of here and you will forget our conversation today."
"No... you won't." Tooba's eyes squinted. His humor faded.
"I will take the holocron."
"No... you won't." Tooba got nasty.
"Now ... get out of my shop. Jedi scum. I'll just visit Jabba myself... Is that what you want?"
His wings flapped him out of the room to a room in the back of the shop.
Business.
Tooba knew business.
If the holocron did contain the ancient teachings of Darth Bane, it's value was priceless. If it contained news clips from Coruscant... it would be worthless. The Toydarian loved a gamble.
The Sith apprentice made a move for the door. He had no more parlay.
"Aaa... wait. Don't leave." Tooba's wings flapped him to the door.
"How much money do you have... say ten thousand credits?"
"It's worthless to you." Glib spat. He had no credits.
The Twi'lek had hoped to use mind tricks on the shop owner when he actually found the holocron. It was disappointing to find the holocron in the unlikely hands of a Toydarian... Only susceptable to mind tricks by the exceptionally strong force users.
"I'll tell you what... you're right... it's worthless to me. I'll let you work in my store.. I give you the device for free... eh?" Tooba made a swooping hand gesture simulating one of a Jedi attempting mind control.
'Hideous creature.' The apprentice thought. 'A Twi'lek is more suited for running a Hutt's business or in the senate... not tinkering in an off world junk store.'
"How many days?"
"Ahhh.." Tooba flapped. "How about... Forever... and I'll give you the thing."
The Sith apprentices' eyes glowed orange as he concentrated on the pyramid shaped device. Only one who could wield the power of the information of the holocron could make it come to life.
With an intense gaze and concentration the holocron began to glow. A blue hue gathered. Instantly it snapped to life.
There was an image of a hulking man in a black hooded robe sitting on a throne. Huge, muscular man. Looked like a Rancor in a robe.. the Twi'lek mused.
"I am Darth Bane.." The Ghostly figure spoke. It's voice was deep. "Two there should be; no more, no less. One to embody the power, the other to crave it."
The Slave's quarters, at the junk shop, was dark and quiet. The holocron illumination glowed on the Twi'lek's face.
Dark words rang out of the blue haze. They were full of self-centered venom and hate.
The hooded figure never showed it's face... only shadows.
Unbridled hate was what Tooba heard on his monitor, in the other room. His eyes were opened wide. Listening in on the ancient holocron's dance. The Toydarian was surprised that the holocron was actually what the Twi'lek had said.
"You will know when it is time for revenge. You must stay in the shadows until then..." Bib Fortuna could feel a fire coursing through his veins. He let the dark hate flow.
"Jedi in a bad mood, huh?" Tooba said out loud to no one as he turned his monitor to the slave's quarters off.
Smoke and mirrors.
"A good trade."
"Be your own maker. Free yourself. Break your chains..." The holocron echoed before it stitched off into black.
The Twi'lek took a few seconds to bring himself back into the present. He buried the holocron deep in his pocket and took for the entrance of his quarters.
"Break your chains..." Darth Bane's phantom echoed in the Twi'lek's head.
The slave collar was choking his neck.
The Toydarian had attached a regular slave collar around Glib Fortuna's neck in exchange for the holocron. If a slave fitted with a collar were to venture too far outside his perimeter... the collar would detonate... and so would the slave's head.
The Sith apprentice's thoughts were deep and dark. Double evil.
The streets were dark, but far from quiet.
The Mos Eisley Saloon Band could be heard on the wind through the night. A familiar song rang out to the locals. It was just noise to an Off-Worlder.
The air was dry. The sand was still.
In the distance, Tatooine's moons shone bright.
Glib Fortuna didn't need the light of the moons, he cast his own shadow. He had never felt so alive and so dead at the same time.
Some of the words bouncing in his head were common place Sith training. Others were lore. Still others were words forgotten. They all played in the Twi'lek's head at once.
The band played.
The Twi'lek walked.
The slave collar began to play it's own song.
With distance, the cantina music began to fade.
The collar's tune drowned out the band.
In a moment, it would be over. A Toydarian slave gone.
With his mind suggestion, the Twi'lek ran his ship into it's warm up cycles. Parked just outside the city, the ship came to life.
Faint sounds of blaster fire could be heard somewhere in the city.
The collar was about to blow.
The Twi'lek would, indeed, be free.
The Sith apprentice's eyes went orange. The holocron began to vibrate in his pocket.
The slave collar unsnapped from his neck. A higher tone beep indicated it was going through it's final cycle.
A shield of blue flame engulfed the Twi'lek.
The collar hit the ground.
The band's song was over.
There were loud voices in the night. More blaster fire and casino ruckus.
With a smoking hole in his chest, a Rodarian lost his life.
The slave collar detonated.
Street awnings left to the thieves were burned. Buildings shook.
The slave collar turned into a large blast hole in the sand.
Flames and sand shot past the looming Sith apprentice and did no harm.
Besides the Twi'lek, the only other creature that knew the score was a Toydarian. He had been waiting for that sound since the holocron snapped itself off.
The Twi'lek lifted himself off the ground and floated up onto his ships boarding ramp. It was time to get off world. The Hutts would be looking for him soon.