"He seemed like any other child. Energetic, shy at times, but even when I first met him, there was a slight sense of unrest. If only I'd paid more attention to it, perhaps things would have gone differently..."
It had been a long work cycle, one shift longer than he was supposed to have worked, but Aries had accepted it anyway. When he wasn't working, or keeping himself in the shape his job required, he was drinking.
The Scoundrel's Den was quiet. It was a small cantina with low lighting and only one circular bar in the middle, surrounded by several small semi-circle hubs. For the most part the hubs contained tables and booths, the cliental being mostly bi-pedal, but a few of them had been retrofitted to serve the variety of species who were likely to congregate there.
Aries was feelings restless, and no matter where he went or what he did, that feeling was always with him. It was in his bones, in his blood and if he wasn't careful it could take over, and the results were usually unpleasant.
He also had a difficult time keeping to himself. As much as he tried to convince himself that his past was light years behind him, there still remained a very small sense of duty and justice. It was rarely conscious, more of an impulse, one he could barely control.
In a place like Nar Shaddaa it was far from a useful trait though. That night he could see it coming and could have walked away. He'd seen the Corellian pimp, Ranik, arrive with his group of Twi'lek girls a few hours before, and right away it was obvious that the man was drunk and in a boisterous mood. His instinct, maybe more than that, told him there would be trouble, but he'd ignored it, downing his drink and ordering another one.
It had all started with one word. "No."
It was amazing the effect one word could have. One word at the right moment could change the course of a night in an instant, and sometimes it could have consequences that went well beyond just one night or one life.
The word had been spoken by one of the Twi'lek girls. Her name was Yasha and she was still young, in her early twenties. She was short and her skin was a deep blue and she was wearing a cheap dress that was clearly a knock off of a fashion that had been popular on Coruscant recently.
Rani, was standing and so was she. She had a drink in her hand and was staring back defiantly at him. "What did you say?" he asked.
Yasha didn't back down, despite the fact that Ranik stood a good foot taller than her, with a broad chest and annoyingly large muscles. He wore a only a vest and black pants, with boots that were a bright lime green. He also had a blaster in a holster on his left side, Aries couldn't help but noticing.
"I said no. I'm done with this life, just give me the creds you owe me and I'll be gone," she said.
Ranik, laughed and his arm crossed over and then swept back, his back hand hitting the girl, nearly knocking her off her feet. Blood poured down from her nose and fire raged in her eyes before she screamed and lashed back against him, giving him four long and deep scratches on the side of his face.
"You little sithspawn slut," Ranik spewed before full out punching her in the face, knocking her back and through a cheap table. She sat up slowly, slightly dazed but still looking angry. Ranik pulled his blaster out it's holster and pointed it at Yasha. "You know who I'm associated with and what I can get away with if I want."
The blaster in his hand shook, and when he shot it, the bolt narrowly missed the girl's head, leaving a smoking hole in the seat behind her.
"I guess that makes a second blaster you don't know how to use," Yasha said with a defiant smile on her bloodied face.
Ranik's face was livid and Aries wouldn't have been surprised if his eyes popped out of his skull. He was practically shaking with rage and Aries could feel that seductive and familiar feeling rolling off him. The hand holding the blaster, however, wasn't shaking anymore, and it's barrel was pointed directly at the girl's head.
"Think I'll miss this time?" Ranik said. His voice was now a deadly calm, his eyes glaring directly at her.
"Ok, that's more than enough," Aries said. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried well and Ranik looked over, surprise now clouding his eyes.
He wasn't the only one surprised. Aries hadn't remembered standing up, and the words had escaped his lips with barely a conscious thought behind them.
"What did you say?" Ranik asked.
Aries sighed, "well at best it was a whole ten seconds ago, but I said that's enough. There's no need to kill the girl."
"And who are you to tell me what to do?" Ranik sneered. "I've seen you around here before. You're just some low-level Czerka security thug. Drunk off your ass most of the time you're here on cheap Corellian ale."
"Guess you have me all figured out," Aries replied with a smile, "still, you know what they say about appearances? I think you might want to let this little grudge die."
"Fuck you," Ranik said. He then looked back at Yasha, who had been frozen by the exchange, her eyes moving back and forth from Ranik to Aries. Finally her gaze was locked onto Ranik's, who had turned back to look at her and there was a cold malice on his face that frightened her more than any boast or blow.
Ranik's finger wrapped around the trigger and squeezed. Yasha closed her eyes and heard the blaster shot and in that moment was too scared to think of anything and really only felt anger at herself, at the situation, at Ranik, and hoped sincerely that someday something very bad would happen to the man who'd killed her.
There was no pain though, no burning or blood, nothing. She opened her eyes to see that the blaster Ranik had been holding was now lying on the ground near her feet. She had no idea how it had gotten there, but was immediately distracted by the fight that was now taking place between Ranik and Aries.
Ranik, who was bigger than Aries, was relying on pure brute force and launching punch after punch, all of which missed except for the last one, which caught Aries across the jaw. The blow had a brief stunning effect, but Aries regained his focus faster than anyone would have imagined.
Despite the fact that he seemed way more intoxicated than Ranik, Aries fought with a practiced technique and though his punches were mostly jabs, they landed much more consistently than Ranik's, and most of them were body shots, with only a few quick jabs hitting Ranik in the face.
Ranik was getting tired and decided to tackle Aries, lifting him up and crashing him down onto the ground, punching Aries in the face, dazing him while Ranik stood back up, groaning a bit at the pain that had been caused to his core.
Aries used the moment to deliver a quick yet vicious sweep, his heel catching Ranik's shin, causing him to fall forward as he screamed in pain. A loud crack had followed the blow and pain flooded Ranik's senses and for a few moments he had no real thought process.
When he finally got back onto his knees, mentally preparing himself for the simple task of returning to his feet, a task complicated the still constant pain in his shin, feeling as if someone was using a light saber to very slowly burn it away, only taking centimeters off at a time, he looked up to see that Aries had already beaten him to the act. He didn't have the time or the energy to stop the fist that hammered down into the side of his head.
The blow knocked Ranik down, and while he was still barely conscious, the fight was over. Aries looked down at Ranik and his vision blurred, whether this was more because he had drank a lot or gotten punched in the head he wasn't sure, and a small smile formed on his lips.
The constant, driving pulse of adrenaline was still electrifying his system, and he felt alive in a way he hadn't for an incredibly long time. He had always felt that way after a fight or a battle.
Somewhere in the dark recesses of mind lingered the guilt that was always there as well. It was a battle of nature versus nurture, of the teachings he'd grown up with and trained under competing with his heritage, with the blood that flowed through his veins.
It was at that point that he realized how quiet the bar was. He looked over and saw the bartender, was was a small and scared looking Rodian, holding an old, Exar Kun era rifle.
The Rodian spoke a few words in a loud and shaky voice. Aries could only make out a bit of it, but understood the intention behind the words. "It's alright," he said. "I won't be causing any more trouble."
The bartender continued to point his gun,and repeated what he'd said before. Aries now noticed that the rifle wasn't pointed directly at him, but slightly to the side.
He looked over to see Yasha holding Ranik's blaster now. When she had stood up, he didn't know, but now it was her turn to point it at Ranik, who still lay unconscious on the floor.
"Sure that's a good idea?" Aries asked.
"Seems like a pretty damn good one from where I'm standing," Yasha replied.
"In your boots I might say the same, but even if you didn't realize that you had a rifle pointed at your head, you might want reconsider the consequences of taking out someone as connected as him," Aries said.
Yasha didn't say anything, but there was uncertainty in her eyes now. What she was thinking, the images and memories of sensations caused by the now unconscious scoundrel, Aries could only glimpse at through the wave of emotions that rolled off her.
Then she fired. So did the Rodian. The second shot was fired only a few milliseconds after the first. Neither hit their target.
The blaster Yasha had been holding was now floating half a meter above her head and she was holding the hand the blaster had been held in. The Rodian's rifle was also out of his hands and also floating about half a meter in front of him.
The bartender barely let out a squeal of surprise before the rifle flew back at him with a burst of speed, the butt slamming into his head hard enough to knock him over.
The blaster floated over to Aries, outstretched hand, he grasped the handle, set the weapon to stun and turned it's safety on before stuffing it in the back of his pants.
Yasha looked at him with a stunned face. "You're a Jedi."
"Not anymore," he said. He then waved two of his finger quickly in the direction of Yasha and the other Twi'lek girls. "You've never seen me before. This man drank too much and passed out, and you decided to take your chances and run, to try and start a new life far away from here."
Without a word in reply the girls left. Yasha brushed up against him, as if she couldn't see him.
Aries left several minutes later, after making sure the security system had been thoroughly destroyed.