A Mercenary's Tale - Chapter Two
Nightfall
Night fell onto Manaan. Maria and I were treading around carefully, avoiding the cameras that would be so keenly watching us. "We have to get into the cantina and then get out of here, Jaro. The Selkath don't like the idea of "paid protection"" Maria told me. We carried on sneaking around Ahto City until we reached the cantina.
It wasn't the time, but my mind wandered to Revan.
I didn't ponder on what happened a year ago, instead I pondered on what happened two years ago. Revan, for one reason or another decided that it would be best to eradicate every walking, talking, living Jedi on Manaan. If they would not join her, then she would kill them. At this time, she was pure evil, pure anger and pure hate. She was nothing like what she become just before she disappeared.
She spent a lot of time back then being evil to me and working on devious plans to make me love her, yet hate her even more. The longer I spent with Revan however, the more I seemed to melt her heart and vice versa. I was suddenly shot back into realisation for the real world when I spotted Maria drinking from a tumbler and lighting a cigarra. "Er.. What are you doing?" I asked her. Maria just sighed and threw both legs over one of the cantina's stools before sitting down.
"Making myself welcome" She replied. She scratched her forehead and took another puff on the cigarra. I shrugged at her in response. It was after closing hours and the Selkath owner was nowhere to be seen.
"So, with this being Manaan and all, would you like to remind me why they need to have paid protection?" I asked. Maria took another long puff on the cigarra, humming to herself softly. I watched as she tipped her head in one direction, puffing on her cigarra again. I turned my head to see what she was gesturing about. I walked over to a small compartment and wondered what would be in there, but I soon figured it out. It was probably Spice, or, some form of spice such as Glitterstim, Ryll or Carsunum. It soon became apparent that if no fights were started here or prevented before they could get out of control then the Selkath Law would never find out about the dodgy dealings that were going on here.
I sat down beside Maria and pulled out my own cigarra and lit up. The owner of the cantina nonchanlantly walked out infront of us. "What do you think you're doing?" He asked. Maria rolled her eyes, sighing before putting out her cigarra.
"I have to say this twice? I was making myself welcome." She replied angrily to the Selkath cantina owner.
"I suppose you're one of Parda's mercenaries." The Selkath stated to Maria whilst moving for his own glass of poison. Maria nodded in his direction, taking one more long, drawn out sip from her tumbler, gasping in relief from the taste.
"So give me the credits, and we'll be out of here. No trouble. No questions asked." Maria told the Selkath. I watched the Selkath carefully as he nodded his head and his hand went underneath the bar, his hand soon returned to the top of the bar and he handed Maria some credits. Maria gazed at the credits in her hand and shook her head.
"This doesn't look like enough.." She replied trailing off as she thumbed her way through the credits that were in her hand, as she came closer to the end her head shook in disgust, firmly. "Correction. It isn't enough. Where's the rest of it Selkath?" Maria asked him, angrily.
"We didn't make enough-" The Selkath was promptly interrupted.
"That's a load of Bantha crap if I ever heard it" Maria replied. I watched as she reached out and grabbed the Selkath hard and brought him closer to her. "This is the last time I'll ask. WHERE'S the rest of the credits?" She asked him angrily. The Selkath bent down again, reaching for presumably more credits and his hand returned to above the bar. However, his hand didn't have hold of more credit chits, instead his hand had hold of a blaster.
The Selkath pointed his blaster between Maria's eyes and I watched as she didn't even flinch. "That's not a smart move. Parda would remove his mercenaries and the law would be around here in a flash when a fight started." Maria told the Selkath. The Selkath laughed.
"I have my own mercenaries now" He answered. My eyes darted back and forth between Maria as my hand grasped my blaster from its sheath. I pointed the blaster directly at the Selkath's temple.
"Yes, but you still owe Parda credits." I said angrily at the Selkath. The Selkath turned and grinned at me, chuckling. I suddenly felt a blaster pointed at the back of my head, someone in the shadows had been watching the whole conversation unfold and was obviously on the Selkath's side. I closed my eyes in absolute dread and saw Maria shake her head at me from the corner of my eye. I licked my lips, raised my eyebrow and looked at Maria. Her hand was placed carefully on her vibroblade. I was hoping that whatever it was she had on her mind, she would draw her blade a lot faster and smoother this time.
In a flash, Maria unsheathed her vibroblade and pointed it at the man behind me, threatening to kill him in some shape or form. I carried on looking ahead, however, trusting in Maria's abilities. For a while we all stood that way, not knowing who would strike first and how hard. Someone was going to lose their life though and I sincerely hoped it was anyone but me. I glanced across at Maria, wondering how we were going to get out of this situation. I looked around me and saw an answer.
I decided to kick the stool into the mercenary behind me which sent him flying backwards.
Maria quickly swung her blade around to the Selkath's neck and two more mercenaries burst in through the doors. In panic, I depressed the trigger and killed the Selkath. Maria had a face of thunder on her as she glared at me in quick succession. She walked towards the two mercenaries who now had their vibroblades drawn and entered an offensive stance. I felt myself being whipped around in surprise by the other mercenary and being punched in the face. My blaster flew out of my hand and I now had to duel the mercenary with my fists.
I could hear vicious, shrilling sounds of blades slicing against each other in Maria's direction as I started to lash out against my attacker. I landed a few strong blows of my own but it was more of a rabble than any kind of tactical fight. My blows were not enough to knock the mercenary out and so I ran towards the bar. I reached over the bar and grasped for anything useful, my hand fell on a tumbler. I picked the tumbler up and smashed it over the mercenaries head, this time successfully rendering him unconcious.
I turned my head and looked in Maria's direction, she was battling fiercely against both men at the same time. I retrieved my blaster and again my hand went over the bar to try and find anything useful. I kept staring at the fight. Maria was about to finish off one of the mercenaries but - "Maria! LOOK OUT!" I shouted as the other mercenary was about to decapitate Maria. My hand landed on a sharp, thin blade. It was obviously my luck. I grabbed it and threw it with all my might at the mercenary.
The mercenary staggered backwards as the blade protruded from his chest, blood seeping from the wound. His eyes widened as he backed up against the wall and slid down it, leaving a long trail of blood, dripping down the wall. The mercenaries blade fell from his hand and his head crumpled towards the right as he exhaled his last ever breath.
Maria successfully decimated her attacker in one swing and then she turned to face me. "I guess we're even, Maria." I said to her, grinning. If looks could kill, I'd be dead. Maria stood there staring at me, refusing to let her cold, icy eyes remove their grip on me.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you, Jaro." She said to me.
"What have I done wrong?" I said as I left for the door, Maria following suit.
"You killed the owner, now we'll never get any more credits, you do realise Parda is going to be livid, right?" She asked. I never really thought of that, I guess we were in deep trouble.
Oh well..
Nightfall
Night fell onto Manaan. Maria and I were treading around carefully, avoiding the cameras that would be so keenly watching us. "We have to get into the cantina and then get out of here, Jaro. The Selkath don't like the idea of "paid protection"" Maria told me. We carried on sneaking around Ahto City until we reached the cantina.
It wasn't the time, but my mind wandered to Revan.
I didn't ponder on what happened a year ago, instead I pondered on what happened two years ago. Revan, for one reason or another decided that it would be best to eradicate every walking, talking, living Jedi on Manaan. If they would not join her, then she would kill them. At this time, she was pure evil, pure anger and pure hate. She was nothing like what she become just before she disappeared.
She spent a lot of time back then being evil to me and working on devious plans to make me love her, yet hate her even more. The longer I spent with Revan however, the more I seemed to melt her heart and vice versa. I was suddenly shot back into realisation for the real world when I spotted Maria drinking from a tumbler and lighting a cigarra. "Er.. What are you doing?" I asked her. Maria just sighed and threw both legs over one of the cantina's stools before sitting down.
"Making myself welcome" She replied. She scratched her forehead and took another puff on the cigarra. I shrugged at her in response. It was after closing hours and the Selkath owner was nowhere to be seen.
"So, with this being Manaan and all, would you like to remind me why they need to have paid protection?" I asked. Maria took another long puff on the cigarra, humming to herself softly. I watched as she tipped her head in one direction, puffing on her cigarra again. I turned my head to see what she was gesturing about. I walked over to a small compartment and wondered what would be in there, but I soon figured it out. It was probably Spice, or, some form of spice such as Glitterstim, Ryll or Carsunum. It soon became apparent that if no fights were started here or prevented before they could get out of control then the Selkath Law would never find out about the dodgy dealings that were going on here.
I sat down beside Maria and pulled out my own cigarra and lit up. The owner of the cantina nonchanlantly walked out infront of us. "What do you think you're doing?" He asked. Maria rolled her eyes, sighing before putting out her cigarra.
"I have to say this twice? I was making myself welcome." She replied angrily to the Selkath cantina owner.
"I suppose you're one of Parda's mercenaries." The Selkath stated to Maria whilst moving for his own glass of poison. Maria nodded in his direction, taking one more long, drawn out sip from her tumbler, gasping in relief from the taste.
"So give me the credits, and we'll be out of here. No trouble. No questions asked." Maria told the Selkath. I watched the Selkath carefully as he nodded his head and his hand went underneath the bar, his hand soon returned to the top of the bar and he handed Maria some credits. Maria gazed at the credits in her hand and shook her head.
"This doesn't look like enough.." She replied trailing off as she thumbed her way through the credits that were in her hand, as she came closer to the end her head shook in disgust, firmly. "Correction. It isn't enough. Where's the rest of it Selkath?" Maria asked him, angrily.
"We didn't make enough-" The Selkath was promptly interrupted.
"That's a load of Bantha crap if I ever heard it" Maria replied. I watched as she reached out and grabbed the Selkath hard and brought him closer to her. "This is the last time I'll ask. WHERE'S the rest of the credits?" She asked him angrily. The Selkath bent down again, reaching for presumably more credits and his hand returned to above the bar. However, his hand didn't have hold of more credit chits, instead his hand had hold of a blaster.
The Selkath pointed his blaster between Maria's eyes and I watched as she didn't even flinch. "That's not a smart move. Parda would remove his mercenaries and the law would be around here in a flash when a fight started." Maria told the Selkath. The Selkath laughed.
"I have my own mercenaries now" He answered. My eyes darted back and forth between Maria as my hand grasped my blaster from its sheath. I pointed the blaster directly at the Selkath's temple.
"Yes, but you still owe Parda credits." I said angrily at the Selkath. The Selkath turned and grinned at me, chuckling. I suddenly felt a blaster pointed at the back of my head, someone in the shadows had been watching the whole conversation unfold and was obviously on the Selkath's side. I closed my eyes in absolute dread and saw Maria shake her head at me from the corner of my eye. I licked my lips, raised my eyebrow and looked at Maria. Her hand was placed carefully on her vibroblade. I was hoping that whatever it was she had on her mind, she would draw her blade a lot faster and smoother this time.
In a flash, Maria unsheathed her vibroblade and pointed it at the man behind me, threatening to kill him in some shape or form. I carried on looking ahead, however, trusting in Maria's abilities. For a while we all stood that way, not knowing who would strike first and how hard. Someone was going to lose their life though and I sincerely hoped it was anyone but me. I glanced across at Maria, wondering how we were going to get out of this situation. I looked around me and saw an answer.
I decided to kick the stool into the mercenary behind me which sent him flying backwards.
Maria quickly swung her blade around to the Selkath's neck and two more mercenaries burst in through the doors. In panic, I depressed the trigger and killed the Selkath. Maria had a face of thunder on her as she glared at me in quick succession. She walked towards the two mercenaries who now had their vibroblades drawn and entered an offensive stance. I felt myself being whipped around in surprise by the other mercenary and being punched in the face. My blaster flew out of my hand and I now had to duel the mercenary with my fists.
I could hear vicious, shrilling sounds of blades slicing against each other in Maria's direction as I started to lash out against my attacker. I landed a few strong blows of my own but it was more of a rabble than any kind of tactical fight. My blows were not enough to knock the mercenary out and so I ran towards the bar. I reached over the bar and grasped for anything useful, my hand fell on a tumbler. I picked the tumbler up and smashed it over the mercenaries head, this time successfully rendering him unconcious.
I turned my head and looked in Maria's direction, she was battling fiercely against both men at the same time. I retrieved my blaster and again my hand went over the bar to try and find anything useful. I kept staring at the fight. Maria was about to finish off one of the mercenaries but - "Maria! LOOK OUT!" I shouted as the other mercenary was about to decapitate Maria. My hand landed on a sharp, thin blade. It was obviously my luck. I grabbed it and threw it with all my might at the mercenary.
The mercenary staggered backwards as the blade protruded from his chest, blood seeping from the wound. His eyes widened as he backed up against the wall and slid down it, leaving a long trail of blood, dripping down the wall. The mercenaries blade fell from his hand and his head crumpled towards the right as he exhaled his last ever breath.
Maria successfully decimated her attacker in one swing and then she turned to face me. "I guess we're even, Maria." I said to her, grinning. If looks could kill, I'd be dead. Maria stood there staring at me, refusing to let her cold, icy eyes remove their grip on me.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you, Jaro." She said to me.
"What have I done wrong?" I said as I left for the door, Maria following suit.
"You killed the owner, now we'll never get any more credits, you do realise Parda is going to be livid, right?" She asked. I never really thought of that, I guess we were in deep trouble.
Oh well..