Disclaimer: I do not own star wars or any of its character and while plot points are from various RPG games I take no credit for their origins only of their application in the story therein. This a labor of love and not for profit though if Disney or Lucas Arts would like to hire my creative brain I'd be more than happy to drop everything and come running. Please read and leave a review.
Episode 4: Mandalorian Captain Part 1:
Chapter 2: What a Hunk of Junk
On Board the Ferialis
Even with his helmet's polarizing visor, Jarek was temporarily blinded.
Through his disorientation, he heard a blow being struck followed by Tersen yelling in alarm. Before Jarek could turn and confront the assailant something heavy slammed into his forearm. He cursed in a mixture of pain and shock as his blaster went flying. A second blow caught him on the inside of his left thigh. Alarm swept through him as the leg went limp.
As he fell two sets of strong hands grabbed him by the arms and hauled him back. As he was forced to his knees next to Tersen. Jarek looked up in time to see Gare, somehow also disarmed, take on two attackers. The first, a Weequay, reached for him only to get levered into the floor. The second assailant, a human, swung a pipe but Gare easily ducked under it only to come up and grapple the man to the floor. The Gank got the upper hand and was able to get the brigand in a choke hold.
The man struggled to pull the oppressive weight away from his throat but the Gank continued to squeeze. Gare only paused when he felt the barrel of a blaster prod the side of his head. Still maintaining his hold he glanced up at the owner of the pistol.
"A valiant effort," the Deveronian stated with a grin, "now, let my man go." He was tall with deep red skin and horns polished to perfection. He wore a striped scarf around his neck and a silk vest over a long-sleeve shirt. He had knee-high black leather boots that complimented a long black leather coat draped across his shoulders. Aside from the blaster, he had pointed at Gare's head he held a sheathed cutlass at his hip.
Gare squeezed the man's throat a little tighter. "Or else what?" he growled. There was the sound a blade being unsheathed and Tersen found himself with a dagger to his throat. Jarek tried to move but with both arms locked behind him he was stuck, he couldn't even call for help. They weren't in any sort of position to be cocky.
"Do as he says," Jarek ordered. Gare glared at the Mandalorian and then glanced at Tersen. He sighed in frustration and shoved the man away. As his former opponent crawled away to catch his breath, Gare stood and faced the Deveronian who still had his blaster trained on the Gank.
"Who the hell are these guys?" Tersen gasped as the knife was slowly lowered from his throat.
"These, Tersen," Jarek grunted as he tried to ease the pressure on his arms, "are pirates."
Rather than appear insulted by the title, the Deveronian looked pleased. More of the pirate crew, which seemed to consist of three Weequay, an Aqualish, a Twi'lek, two humans, and the Cather, appeared brandishing weapons. The flamboyantly dressed captain of the pirate band twirled his blaster and holstered it. He then bowed to them. "Welcome aboard my vessel, the Ferialis. I am Captain Gideon."
"There was no distress signal was there?" Jarek growled ignoring Gare's look of 'I told you so.'
"That was just a bit of theatre to draw in the unsuspecting," Gideon bragged.
"And you all rode in like gallant knights," said the Cathar in a sweet teasing voice. She ran a clawed finger down the side of Jarek's helmet, "So sweet. So foolish."
"Do I look like a knight to you?" Gare growled making a couple nearby pirates clench their weapons a little tighter. The Cathar giggled at his bravado and stood next to Gideon.
The Captain smirked. "You look like the kind of being who'd throw his grandmother out an airlock for the right price," he stated a little more matter-of-factly then seemed necessary. Jarek also noted with some trepidation that the Gank hadn't exactly denied the accusation.
"And neither are we knights," Jarek stated, "So you might as well let us go."
Gideon turned and walked towards Jarek. At a motion to his guards, the Mandalorian was lifted to a standing position. Without much preamble, Gideon yanked off his helmet and tossed it to the Cather. Upon seeing Jarek's face, he smiled. "Correct me if I'm wrong," he said, "But you're a Mandalorian, right?"
"What's it to you?" he replied curtly, irritated he'd lost his commlink along with his buc'ey.
"Never gotten the best of one of your kind before," Gideon said scornfully, "don't you usually stick to your section of the galaxy?"
"I'm on vacation," he snapped back.
Gideon laughed in return. He walked over to Tersen and Gare and removed both of their comm links, and rebreathers, tossing them into Jarek's helmet. "Such bravado," he chuckled. He looked around at his crew and shouted, "Prepare a boarding party."
"If I were you," Jarek declared earning a raised eyebrow from Gideon, "I would reconsider that plan, Captain Gideon."
"Really?" he remarked in mock curiosity.
"I gave my crew instructions to shoot anyone who attempts to force their way onto the ship," Jarek stated. It was a lie of course but a reasonable one. If anyone attempted to steal the Fang he had no doubt Slick would blast anyone to protect Madlyn and Era.
The Deveronian shook his head continuing to smile as if the threat didn't even warrant serious concern. "So I guess one of you will have to get us in," he said gesturing between the three of them.
"Get stuffed," Gare growled earning a blow to the back of the head. The Gank staggered, shook his head and stood straight glaring at the pirate who'd hit him.
"Hmm," Gideon seemed to consider that information for a moment and then smiled as he found an answer, "but if they don't hear from you, your poor empathetic crew will have to come to investigate." Jarek tried to come up with a reason why they wouldn't do exactly that, but at his hesitation, Gideon knew he had him.
This was no ordinary pirate.
Onboard the Krayt Fang:
Slick looked at his chronometer, but it seemed as if no time had passed since the last time he'd checked. It hadn't been more than ten minutes since the others had entered the Ferialis and he was starting to get worried. He hadn't expected a minute by minute update but something would've been nice. Surely they'd have found the crew by then as well.
He rubbed his temples impatiently. "Gare was wrong," he groaned causing the other two occupants of the bridge to look at him, "This ship isn't cramped, it's downright claustrophobic. Should've volunteered just to stretch my legs."
Era swiveled around to look at the Pantoran. "I don't think Gare's problem is with the ship."
Slick arched and eyebrow unsure what the archeologist was implying. "You think it's us?" he asked curiously.
Shrugging Era shook her head before answering, "Whether he'll admit it or not, Gare was made for the criminal underworld. Not freelance ferry work." They looked at her with skeptic curiosity. "You didn't see how he dismantled Drombb's men at New Meen." She visibly shivered at the recollection.
Waving a dismissive hand Slick replied, "He'll get over it." Sighing he added, "Besides, Gare runs hot. He always has. It's a byproduct of all those gladiatorial bouts he was forced to fight. Once he gets used to his new life, I believe he'll settle down."
Era scoffed, "Yeah, I bet that sounded more convincing in your head."
Slick rolled his eyes and looked back at Madlyn. Interestingly she had remained silent during the entire exchange. In fact, she hadn't said much sense Jarek's departure. Standing slick stood next to her and saw she was staring out at the freighter. More specifically at the spots where the atmosphere was venting.
"Darling, everything alright?" he asked.
Madlyn shrugged but didn't reply. She simply kept staring at the damaged ship.
On Board the Ferialis:
"I trust you will find your accommodations comfortable," Gideon said as the three of them minus weapons and tools were shoved into a prison cell. Gare immediately started to advance but was stopped short when the door slammed shut again. Gideon smiled at them waving a key card which he tucked into his vest. "Once we get aboard your ship we are simply going to search for anything of value, and then you can be on your way." He leaned forward resting an arm on the door frame and glared at the three of them while still smiling. "Should you try to resist paying your share of the customs duty, you may find yourself missing more than just your belongings." With that, he turned and left with his ilk. The Cathar lingered waggling her clawed fingers at Jarek and, still clutching his helmet skipped after the Deveronian.
"So much for a rescue mission," Tersen mumbled as they took in their new surroundings. Jarek could see the room was a storage closet that had been retrofitted to become a temporary brig. Foot wide benches line the walls with reinforced grating where the air vent should've been. There were no freshers or light fixtures or anything they could use to escape.
Jarek sighed, placing his hands on his hips. "I'll admit there were some... complications," he admitted begrudgingly.
"Right," Gare growled taking a seat on one of the benches. Jarek ignored the sarcasm in his tone and decided to look for a means of escape. Almost immediately his eyes fell on the door control panel on their side of the hatchway. He doubted the pirates would've allowed it to remain operational, but it was worth a shot.
"Tersen," he guided the Lannik over to the panel, "See what you can do about disabling the door lock. The Lannik looked as if he wanted to argue but then thought better of it. He moved to the panel and using only his tiny fingers, removed the control interface. Inside was a series of wires and lights that Jarek couldn't even begin to identify.
Tersen sighed before inserting his fingers into the mess of technology. While he rummaged, the Lannik muttered to himself in a mixture of huttese and basic, but just like the technology, Jarek couldn't make sense of it. As the technician worked Jarek paced while Gare remained seated. The only movement he made was to lean forward and prop his arms on his knees and look down at the floor. Jarek could sense his agitation and he suspected it was aimed at him, but ignored it. He had bigger concerns as in how to escape and warn the rest of the crew. He doubted Gideon would be idle. The captain may have come across as flamboyant and cocky but he didn't strike Jarek as stupid or lazy. While they lounged in the brig he would most definitely be devising a way to board their ship.
Suddenly in the midst of Tersen's rummaging, something buzzed and the entire panel went dead. The Lannik cursed before removing his hands and looking at the Mandalorian. "Sorry, Jarek," he sighed, "I can't jerry-rig the door mechanism." He gestured to the gutted panel adding, "They removed any and all tech that could be used to open the hatch from this side." Jarek growled in frustration but didn't take it out on Tersen. The Lannik was a brilliant technician. If he said he couldn't do it then it couldn't be done.
"Don't worry, Tersen," Gare said a low neutral voice, "It's not your fault," his tone turned icy as he added, "It's his."
Jarek felt his temper flare. He didn't need to look to know that the Gank was referring to him. "In case you're forgetting, Gare," he replied barely keeping his words calm, "you volunteered to come along."
"I volunteered," he snapped back, "to get away from the crew!" Jarek turned to look at him and saw that the Gank's fists were balled into fists. "A crew that has been acting more like a dysfunctional family than a business enterprise."
"Like it or not," Jarek countered doing his best not to take an aggressive stance a further escalate the argument, "We are a family. And family tends to drive one another crazy. Much like you are now!"
"You saying I'm losing it?" he growled somehow taking offense to the statement.
Jarek refrained from letting loose a series of colorful insult in mando'a and instead attempted to reason with the Gank. "Let's pretend for a moment that you're captain, stuck in the brig while the rest of your crew could be shot in a boarding action that you were unable to prevent and unwittingly caused because you tried doing a little good." By the time he'd finished his hands were also clenched into fists and he was practically shouting, "Now tell me, Gare, what exactly would you do to get out of that predicament?" The Gank didn't respond. Instead, he looked away as if ashamed, which somehow irritated Jarek even more. "Oh, no brilliant ideas? Why am I not surprised?"
Gare shot to his feet and was in Jarek's face in a single stride. "You shut your mouth!"
Tersen leaped forward and despite being half their size managed to pry them apart. "Okay, let's all just take a deep breath," he said, but his words fell on deaf ears. Both beings still stared daggers at one another.
"Or what?" Jarek retorted, ignoring Tersen, and continuing to glare at his crewmate, "You'll punch me, Gare? Or shoot me? Or whatever else suits your own agenda for self-preservation?"
"That's why you wanted me, isn't it?" Gare practically growled back, "To hit, hurt, and help you survive?"
"I never recruited you!" Jarek shouted back, unable to stop himself, "I wanted to leave you on Geonosis and tend to my own life!"
"What?" the Gank said curiously.
"Flying about the galaxy with a Hutt's enforcer was never part of my plan," he pressed on despite Tersen's continued attempts to intervene, "especially one with the intelligence of a rock!" The words were out before Jarek could stop them. He hadn't meant a single word. He was frustrated and worried about their safety and that of the rest of the crew, and had spoken out of emotion without rational thinking.
Taking a very deep breath he turned from a stunned-looking Gare and Tersen. He paced back and forth a few times thus allowing his heart rate to slow. Placing a steadying hand on the bulkhead Jarek sighed in exasperation, before shaking his head. "I'm sorry, I-I didn't..." he said just loud enough for them to hear, "I didn't mean that." He was too ashamed of himself to even look them in the eye. Neither of them had deserved to hear any of that. Tersen stepped towards him and started to speak, but Jarek raised his hand to him, "Just...let me think...and try and figure a way out of here."
Tersen nodded, but then it was Gare who spoke. "I think I just beat you to it," he said taking them both by surprise. They looked around to see him staring up at the doorway. Before they could say anything, Gare stomped forward and pounded on the hatchway. "Can anyone hear me?" he called out.
"What the hell do think you're doing?" Jarek demanded, feeling his frustration returning. He wasn't sure what Gare was planning, but at that moment, in his gut, he knew he wouldn't like it.
Gare looked over his shoulder at him. "The pirates and I are going to have a little chat," he said, his tone flat and unreadable, much like his intentions. What Jarek did know was that Gare was a survivor and he would do whatever it took to make sure he made it out ahead of everyone else.
"Don't do this, Gare," Tersen demanded and started towards his friend, but Jarek held him back. The Lannik seemed to know what Gare was planning just like Jarek was realizing as well.
"Too late," Gare sighed. He turned back towards the door as a pair of Gideon's pirates approached, the Twi'lek and a human.
"What do you want?" demanded the Twi'lek.
Gare leaned forward placing his hands on either side of the doorframe. "I want to speak to Captain Gideon."
"About what?" the human asked.
Gare shrugged before answering in a less than condescending tone. "About the freighter, he wants to get aboard without being shot."
Jarek stepped forward gesturing threateningly at the Gank. "I am warning you Gare!"
The former gladiator rounded on the Mandalorian, his cybernetic eyes flaring with anger. "Shut-up!" he shouted so loud it made Tersen flinch. He grabbed Jarek by the front of his vest and hauled him forward to meet him eye to eye. "I may be as smart as a rock," he growled low and threateningly, "But your right about one thing. I know how to survive." He shoved Jarek back so hard he fell onto the nearby bench.
Jarek shot back to his feet and made to tackle the Gank, but it was too late. Gare had already exited the brig and the hatch was resealed behind him. Jarek ran up to the door and slammed his fists against the metal. He screamed unintelligently unable to put to words the sense of betrayal and guilt that felt welling within him.
Gare would show them. He would show them all. He would show them he was more than just an enforcer. More than an animal.
The Twi'lek and human lead him up into the ship towards the main cargo hold. He may have come willingly to speak to the captain, but the guards had been cautious enough to put binders on him. He'd give them points for not being as stupid as they looked. They passed a number of other pirates who muttered curiously after the Gank. His guards briefly explained he wanted to parley with the captain before shoving him onward.
It wasn't what he wanted, but Gare was not about to let the pirates make him into their plaything. He didn't trust Gideon to keep his word about freeing them the moment he had the ryll, and he wasn't about to risk being turned over to slavers again.
Gare would never again be another Zygarrian's pet cowering beneath a whip. Or worse a Hutt's brutal wrath to be visited upon some poor debtor in a deserted alleyway. None of that was what he wanted. What he wanted was to survive...and be free.
They dragged him through the main cargo hold, where Jarek, Tersen, and himself had been drawn in and ambushed so easily. More pirates lazed about fingering weapons, waiting for the order to raid the other ship. Amongst them he saw the Cather lounging on a crate, clawed fingers stroking Jarek's helmet. She fixed Gare with a piercing almost hungry stare. He ignored her and pressed on.
Gare had spent his whole life living by someone else's rules; the Zygarrian slaver's, Teemo's, and now Jarek Orion's. He had followed someone else's stipulations his entire life. Being's he hated, Gare was forced to protect them. He even sometimes envied them for their power, wealth, and freedom...
...and for what? To be treated like a two-bit thug-like an animal on a leash.
"I am not an animal!" Gare thought to himself as he was brought onto the bridge of the Ferialis. Captain Gideon stood before him still draped in his long cloak and armed with his cutlass and blaster. In addition, he also wore Jarek's gauntlets of which he seemed particularly fond of.
The pair of guards forced him to his knees, but despite that he still jerked from their grasp, growling menacingly, unwilling to be man-handled. They drew weapons and took aim but were halted at a gesture from Gideon.
"You want something?" the Deveronian stated still sporting the same overconfident smirk Gare was quickly learning to hate.
"You want the cargo on the Krayt Fang," Gare intoned flatly, "I want to go home."
Gideon scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest, "Where is home for a sentient like you?"
"A planet of my choosing," Gare answered sharply.
Chuckling the Deveronian took a step and leaned forward to look Gare in the eye. "Let me get this straight," he started counting off on his fingers, "You deliver the cargo, and I let you go?"
Gare nodded. "Do we have a deal?"
Captain Gideon straightened and stroked his chin, seeming to consider the idea of coming to an accord. "You think," he said with a skeptical tone, "Your friends will believe you were able to escape?"
"No," Gare countered still keeping his voice flat, "They don't know we've been captured. I'll say there was an accident and the others were injured. They'll come running right into your crosshairs."
Gideon chuckled again and looked at one of the humans in the room. Gare recognized him as the one he'd nearly choked to death in the cargo hold. Apparently, he hadn't forgotten either. "We'll need to make it look convincing," Gideon said in a low tone and nodded to the human, who produced a crude looking club
Gare had a choice. He would choose to be more than a blunt object used to hurt others. It was a simple choice whether to cower in a cell and become a slave...or he could take a little pain and be a free being.
He would show them all...