Niklas "Hawk" Jonsson
Disclaimer: You know the drill... Mumble, mumble most stuff isn't mine, mumble mumble belongs to the darn genius! I'm just borrowing. Try to steal Quinn Hzun or anything that is mine and I'll yank your brain out through your rectum, replace your vocal cords with Fran Dretchers, tear your skin off and then I'll think of something that'll really hurt as an encore.
Feedback/Flames: Yes, please. Both of them are equally fun to read, although I must admit that I greatly prefer the first variety. :)
I can be found on ICQ as 21771860, MSN Messenger as or through e-mail as more stories are available at my nifty lil' site at or by clicking on my handle up above if you're on
emphasis/screams
/thoughts/
/telepathy/
translation
+soundeffect/radio+
Even though I finally revised the damned thing, it's still not something which I'm intending to prioritize at the moment, though I have been known to change my mind at the drop of a hat previously. I certainly wasn't planning on revising this fic anytime soon and now, well, here it is. :)
Can you believe it's only been three hours since I started revising this fic? If only I always wrote this fast, I'd have at least two-three new chapters for my various stories out every flonqing week! I rather like the way it turned out too, I feel that it's a huuuuuge improvement over the unrevised one. Then again, that was written like, five years ago, so I'd be quite horrified at myself if I hadn't improved some as a writer in all that time. :)
Anyways, this first installment of Book one in my Star Wars series of fics starts out about ten years before The Phantom Menace ( In other words, roughly 42 years before the battle of Yavin. ) Book one, deals with the time prior to TPM. Book two deals with TPM, the events of which will be radically different from canon due to the interference of a certain Dark-tainted Rogue. Book three deals with the Clone Wars, possibly also the fall of the Republic. Book four details my version of the original SW trilogy. I doubt there'll ever be a Book five.
BTW, a word to the wise and not-so-wise, I haven't read a single passage in any of the SW books. All I know comes from watching the movies and skimming through a few books in the Star Wars D6 and D20 RPG's. So don't expect much of what happens in the books to wind up in here, unless it's by accident.
- Hawk, The Deviant Viking
"Quinn Hzun. A moment of your time, I will have." a brittle-sounding voice intrudes in the otherwise silent hallway, causing a young man in imposing black clothes and a flowing red cape hanging off his shoulders to halt in mid-step for a moment, before he slowed down and continued on his way as the wrinkled old creature floated up beside him, sitting on an anti-grav platform.
"Yoda." Quinn responded neutrally without a single speck of emotion in his voice. But the fact that he'd dropped the 'Master' that was usually attached to that name, was a glaringly obvious indicator that he wasn't all that pleased to have been sought out by the ancient Jedi Master. "Of course." he agreed after a brief period of silence. While he certainly wasn't obligated to listen to the old guy any longer, he felt that he owed the green life-form at least that much.
Even if Master Yoda had been the Councilmember most vehement about seeing Quinn banished from the Jedi Order and stripped of his status during the trial.
Though he supposed that he should at least be grateful that he hadn't been kept prisoner and shipped off for re-education. But no doubt the Order would keep an eye on him, looking for the slightest hint that he was slipping even further into darkness. If that happened, Quinn didn't doubt that he would be shipped off to some remote planet for re-education faster then he could say 'The Dark Side'.
Of course, he didn't plan on making it easy for the Order to keep an eye on him. Arrangements had already been made.
"Dooku and Qui-Gon trained you, they never should have. Hasty, always hasty they are." Master Yoda calmly announced, causing Quinn to shrug uncaringly. What the venerable old creature believed no longer mattered. "Care of the Councils ruling, do you not?" he queried, peering disapprovingly over at Quinn from his hovering platform.
"Not really, Yoda." Quinn responded.
"Qui-Gon, Councilmember would have been, if not for you. Defending you, his mistake was." Master Yoda announced and Quinn's brows moved together for a split second, before his face reassumed a more neutral expression.
"I hardly need to be reminded of that. I was there, remember?" Quinn retorted, faint hints of anger and annoyment evident in his voice.
"Qui-Gon, a new Padawan taken has." Yoda informed Quinn, who smiled for a moment before reassuming neutrality.
"Yes, Obi-Wan Kenobi. I've met him. Smart kid. He will go far in our Order." Quinn replied, almost forgetting to be resentful for a few moments. Kenobi had talent in spades, that much was plainly evident to everyone who knew him.
"Our Order, no longer your Order is." Yoda reminded him and Quinn nodded after a few moments, the smile vanishing as if it had never even been there in the first place.
"Do I at least get to keep this?" Quinn asked and held out his lightsaber in the palm of his left hand, offering it up to the diminutive creature.
"Built it yourself, you did. Keep it, you may. Thanks for services rendered, it is. Our gratitude, you have. Our support, you do not." Yoda replied after a few moments, making no moves to accept the sleek weapon.
No doubt Yoda realized that there was little point in taking it away, as Quinn had the skills to build a new one if he did. If that wasn't the case, Quinn had no doubt that he'd never be allowed to leave the Temple Grounds with a lightsaber in his possession.
"I understand. It was, however, the only way." Quinn replied, though he knew that it wouldn't change anything. He had tried the same arguments during the trial, with negative results.
"Better to fail, rejoin the living Force, then succumb to the Dark Side." Yoda stated ominously and Quinn shivered for a few moments. "Use of their tactics, approved is not!" Yoda exclaimed.
"We'll never know if we had been better of dead now. The Sith apprentice is dead, he won't return to cause any further trouble." Quinn said.
"Nor truly know if Sith he was or not." Yoda argued, then sighed. "Killing, necessary sometimes is." he admitted, his eyes filled with sorrow. "Shooting in the back, never necessary is." he added sternly and shook his head in disapproval.
"I don't know about that. What if someone like me had been around at the time of Darth Kaan?" Quinn asked, stopped, spun around and extended his arms. He twisted his wrists and bent his hands back, then quickly back again to catch the two small blasters that shot out of his wide black sleeves. Both blasters were suddenly pointed at Yoda and Quinn made two quick firing noises. "If he had been killed in time, there wouldn't have been a series of battles on Ruusan and thousands of lives could have been saved." Quinn continued, then tucked the blasters away into the mechanic holsters again.
"Assassin weapons, those are." Yoda grunted with disapproval. "Much Pride, in you. Much vanity. Fear. Anger. Traits of the Dark Side, they are. Discovered sooner, they should have been. Trained, you wouldn't be." he finished.
"I know." Quinn replied. "Nice to see you this one last time, Yoda. It's been nice and I'll be sorry to go, but I will abide by the Councils ruling." he announced.
"Sorry, you don't seem." Yoda stated and squinted for a few moments. "Sorry, you aren't. Pleased, more like. Eager." he added suspiciously after a few moments.
"I grew up here on temple grounds, Yoda. I served in the archives growing up, until Master Dooku discovered my Force affinity. I was passed on from Master to Knight to Master, always studying. My trips to the rest of Courosant were ever short and brief in number. I've only been off planet once." Quinn revealed, looking upwards, as if he could see through the building and out into space. "I long to see the galaxy, see all the things I've only heard of." he said, then sighed, shook his head and looked down on the ground.
"And now I won't be allowed to do so." he groused and clenched his fists for a few moments. "But if I can't see the galaxy, I can at least see Courosant." he finished, looking up and forward with a determined expression. While banished from the Order, he was still forbidden to go off planet and he would have to return frequently for scans to ensure that he wasn't degrading further down onto the path of darkness.
"Where go, will you?" Yoda inquired.
"Haven't got the foggiest." Quinn replied and shrugged. "Wherever the Force will lead me, I guess."
"Beware of the Dark Side, you will. Part of you taken, already it has." Yoda cautioned him.
"Yes, Yoda." Quinn replied.
"In Peace go, Quinn Hzun." Yoda stated gravely, bidding him farewell. For a split second, he wished that the old guy could have used his usual 'May the Force be with you', but such an address was never directed at a Fallen One. One simply didn't wish for the Force to be with Tainted individuals.
"Peace be upon you, Master Yoda." Quinn responded, including the 'Master' denomination as he addressed the greenish creature for what no doubt would be the last time he ever saw him. He didn't use the regular phrase either, no doubt many would take it for an insult, coming from someone like him. Yoda probably wouldn't, but Quinn saw no reason to risk it. He was walking on thin ice as it was and the given the slightest reason, the Council would probably be happy to change his penalty to re-education on top of being banished.
If it hadn't been for Qui-Gons interference, that probably would have been what he had to look forward to. But at his old masters insistence, he had been allowed to see to his atonement on his own.
Master Yoda nodded once, then his platform took another route. Quinn looked after the departing Jedi Master for a few moments with faint regret in his eyes, before he twirled around, the cape swinging out behind him in an impressive manner. With awkward movements, he returned the lightsaber to its rightful place on his belt. With a baleful glare, he stared at his injured right arm, held loosely against his chest in a primitive sling.
/No expensive treatments wasted on someone like me./ Quinn thought resentfully. /It's healing fast though, thank the Force./
But even if it was, he preferred to use it as little as possible. The stunts with the blasters had been bad enough and he would probably regret it once the tranqs he was still affected by wore off in the evening.
/I should be feeling sorry. There have been very few full Knights who have been banished from the Order./ Quinn thought as he descended primitive stairs. The temple was filled with technology, like the rest of the city, but the basic architecture had always been meant to set it apart, to distance the ziggurat from the rest of the city and even the Republic itself. A visible monument to the Orders independence, though there was no denying that the Order and Republic were in many ways codependent on each other for their continued existence. /Young Padawans, sure. Many of them are forced to leave because they displayed too much potential for the Dark Side./ he thought as he made a turn and strode into the large hallway which led to the outside.
/I was only a full Knight for eight days. Well, seven and a half. I think it's some sort of record, though hardly one I would like to be remembered for./ he thought, before his absent musings were interrupted.
"Look! It's the Peacock!" someone exclaimed, but Quinn didn't bother to stop and find out who it was. Though he was hardly fond of his nickname, it wasn't something that he would have to be concerned about for much longer. Soon, he would be far, far away from this place and all who knew him.
He briefly glanced down at his attire and nodded to himself. He certainly cut a fine figure in them, but they also made him stand out from those he was surrounded by. Drab robes and earthy colors just wasn't him and never had been. He'd always wore them as little as he could get away with and then some, thus earning himself that obnoxious nickname for his unorthodox clothes.
The clothes he wore were of the finest cut and quality, tailor-made just for him. The wide dark blue belt was not only well made and contrasted nicely against the black, but it also hid a small assortment of small spikes, made for throwing across short distances. The blood red cape cascading off his shoulders was woven with small metal threads in it to give it a better shape, making it swing impressively behind him as he walked. The black trousers were wide and comfortable, providing him with both concealment and easy access to the blaster strapped to his right leg and the knife on his left. The wide neck of his black shirt was not only cool and comfortable in the summer, but also provided quick access to the blaster taped to his upper back.
Due to lack of training, he wasn't the best of shots. But since his unusual weaponry were so unexpected from someone openly carrying a lightsaber, he didn't really have to be.
That foolish Sith certainly hadn't expected Quinn to suddenly hold a small blaster in his unoccupied left hand while that morons back was turned against him as he twirled and spun around like a circus freak putting on a show. Quinn had fired three times, before the idiot had completed his circuit. As the Sith landed awkwardly, howling in pain and staring with surprise and astonishment at Quinn, he had fired two more times and dashed towards his opponent, cutting his head off with the lightsaber.
It had been his first and only real fight, only three days after being Knighted.
For the last three years of his life, Quinn had constantly felt on edge, had been able to feel that something was just plain WRONG. None of the others had ever noticed and his claims of feeling a dark taint nearby had always been dismissed by his superiors. After all, he was nowhere as talented and skilled as they were and they certainly didn't feel anything. So the first thing he did after being Knighted, before he could be assigned some task by the Order, was to leave the Temple and search out the disturbance he'd felt for so long.
It had taken him three days, but he finally found out what was wrong. Or rather, who was wrong.
The moment he laid his eyes on the freakish Zabrak in his black robes, he'd known. Just known that the tales of the demise of the Sith were a bunch of bollocks. Arrogantly confident in his abilities, having just been made a Jedi Knight and never seen real combat, he'd approached and announced himself and his intentions to bring the Zabrak in for questioning.
That had been a mistake.
Quinn had been pressed hard and damn well nearly lost his right arm to that freaks dual-bladed lightsaber, before he brought one of his blasters into play. The pain of bringing his right arm up and around to cut the Zabraks head off, had nearly made him loose consciousness, but his fury at his own foolishness and his anger towards the creep who injured him had powered his actions.
And made him take his first stumbling steps towards the Dark Side.
He called in for reinforcements and while he waited for them, he searched the body of his dead opponent. He would have told of what he found, but the moment two seasoned Jedi Knights as well as Master It'Kla arrived to inspect the corpse and assist in it's removal, the Taint in Quinn himself was sensed and he was detained for questioning. Everything else that he found was taken, except for an unmarked keycard which Quinn had placed in his own wallet so he wouldn't accidentally drop it. After the trial was over two days ago, Quinn bribed a civilian clerk in the Administrative Office who slid it through his card reader, where he was able to see what it accessed.
It turned out to grant the unidentified carrier access to the public and Naboo areas at the Senate, including the Naboo Senators quarters and office!
Quinn hadn't quite decided what he believed yet, but had narrowed it down to two possibilities. That Sith moron was either out to assassinate or corrupt someone from Naboo, or was allied with them.
This was one of the reasons why Quinn was intending to head for Naboo. If he was caught snooping around Courosant, the Order would likely find it suspicious and perhaps alter his sentence, which he didn't want happening. So, he would do some digging on Naboo and see if he could uncover something interesting. While he was the first to admit that his own beliefs didn't always match those of the Jedi Order, he just couldn't let this be. While the rest of the Order might not believe that the Zabrak was a Sith, Quinn was fully convinced of this fact.
Especially after Master Yoda had explained his theory on why Quinn had been able to sense the dark taint, when nobody else at the Temple had. Quinn's pride, vanity and anger, had already placed him on the path to the Dark Side way before he gave in to temptation and actually took his first step. This made him more attuned to the Dark Side, enabling him to sense the Zabrak who had apparently been an expert at concealing his presence from the Jedi.
That was a highly suspicious talent, which everyone admitted and the discussion regarding just what the Zabrak had been was still in full swing back at the Temple. But nobody wanted to admit to even the possibility that the Sith hadn't been destroyed long ago. Quinn snorted at that thought, he'd sensed the freaks taint and foulness clearly. There was no doubt in his mind as to what that moron had been.
"You never should have been allowed to keep on living, Peacock." someone exclaimed behind Quinn and this time he stopped. "Banishment is too good for the likes of you. You should have been sentenced to death for your crimes against the Force." Quinn spun around with an angry expression, staring at the offending person standing in front of him.
"Farklin? Ban Farklin?" Quinn said, then nodded to himself. "Go in peace, Ban." he snapped and turned around, preparing to leave but was prevented from doing so as Bans hand gripped his injured right arm, none too gently. Quinn winced in pain, as Ban spun him around.
"They should have killed you!" Ban snapped.
"Not only to you forget your place, Padawan. But you're also dangerously close to turning to the Dark Side yourself." Quinn announced with an icy voice and cold glare directed at his old friend, staring him down. "It is not your place to judge. Go in peace or I will report this incident to your Master."
Quinn saw Bans fingers itching to grab the handle to his lightsaber and unconsciously took half a step backwards. With his right arm injured, he wasn't all that certain that he would be able to hold his own in a fight against Ban.
"There is much envy in you." Quinn said, twisting his left wrist and slowly sliding his right arm out of the sling, ensuring that he could get his blasters out in the wink of an eye if Ban attacked. "Envy leads to the Dark Side. You've always envied my growth, haven't you? It frustrates you that I started my training half a year after you, but still got Knighted before your Master even considers you close to the time when you will be allowed to take the tests?" Quinn perceptively guessed. "Step back and go in peace, Ban Farklin. I have no desire to fight you on these hallowed grounds. Or elsewhere, for that matter." he finished and Ban slowly removed his hand from the vicinity of his lightsaber.
Quinn nodded once, then turned around and strode away. He was still prepared to spin around and blast his old childhood friend away, but it seemed like Ban listened, because Quinn could hear him walking off in the opposite direction. He relaxed and slid his right arm all the way back into the sling.
"I was right to train you." a familiar voice calmly intoned and Quinn smiled.
"I'd like to think so too, Master." Quinn replied, automatically timing his stride in time with Master Qui-Gons longer stride. "Not that I don't appreciate it, because I really did and do, but you really shouldn't have stood up against the Council for me. You could have been on the Council now, if it hadn't been for your defiance."
"The Council is not the place for me." Qui-Gon replied, shaking his head. "I will be of greater use to the Order elsewhere."
"Those old stiffs could use some new blood. They're awfully set in their ways of thinking and too alike in their ways by far." Quinn sighed. "You would have been a breath of fresh air, Master."
"I belong in the field, Quinn." Qui-Gon said with a far-away look in his eyes.
"What's Obi-Wan like?" Quinn asked, eager to find out what his old Master was up to.
"Rash, overconfident and headstrong, just like you." Qui-Gon revealed with a faint smile. "But he's only seven, he'll get over it."
"The Force is strong in him. It would be a shame for the Order to loose him." Quinn said and glanced over at Qui-Gon, taking a deep breath. "Master, take him with you when you leave the planet." he advised. "Ultimately, I think that was what drove me to seek other forms of entertainment while you were away. Yoda said that I'm full of Pride, Vanity, Fear and Anger. But I think that what ultimately drove me to the Dark Side was boredom." Quinn revealed and pulled out one of the spikes from his belt, fingering it and twirling it between his fingers for a few moments, before he put it away.
Without Qui-Gon around, Quinn had amused himself instead of joining one of the training classes as he should have. He'd explored the city, he'd visited public libraries, he'd examined all the public areas of the Temple and a few that weren't. He'd learned how to fire a blaster and how to throw spikes. He'd read things he shouldn't have, seen things he should have been sheltered from until he was further ahead in his training and experienced things a Jedi shouldn't experience, no matter how far ahead in their training they were. He'd arrogantly believed that it wouldn't affect him at all, had full confidence in his own abilities to resist temptation once sampled.
He'd been wrong.
Very wrong.
"I will think about it." Qui-Gon promises him and Quinn nods. "May the Force be with you." Qui-Gon intones as they reached one of the landing areas and Quinn felt his eyes moistening up for a few brief moments at hearing the familiar phrase from his old Masters lips.
"Peace be with you." Quinn bade his old Master farewell, refusing to use the more familiar phrase in case it would offend any who were within hearing range of them. After a brief hug, the two parted ways in silence. All that needed to be said had been said earlier. Quinn sighed as he took one last look at the Temple he would now be leaving. With a shake of his head, he stepped aboard one of the public transports and headed into the city and planet of Courosant.
Quinn waited in the city for three days, before making his move. He tried to act normal, looked for jobs and explored the city with wide-eyed stares at his surroundings.
On his fourth day out of the temple, he made a break for it. All had been arranged earlier, set up with the Credits he'd stolen from the Zabraks wallet. He hadn't taken all of it, that would be too suspicious, but he had walked away from that confrontation a much richer man then he'd entered it. He made his first change of clothes in a cheap hotel, where he concealed his presence and left hidden in a cargo container packed with dirty linens heading for a laundry. From the laundry, run by one of the city's crime syndicates, he'd traveled by hovercraft trunk to an airport for another change of clothes and a professional makeover.
From the airport, he'd gone by hovercraft across nearly a quarter of the planet to a run-down freight spaceport in one of the many industrial districts of Courosant, where he finally came eye to shoddy-looking hull with the ship that would take him off Courosant. He hurriedly made his way onboard the ship and came eye-to-eye with the demented Captain who would fly the banged-up Corellian YT-2400 freighter to Naboo.
"Hey! Your lazy ass 'aint got time to mope 'round on my time!" she raged the moment she spotted him.
"Peace, Captain Solo." Quinn greeted her.
"Peace my ass!" she exclaimed. "You were supposed to have your sorry ass here four minutes ago! Move your ass!" she ordered. "You might be former Jedi or former waste disposal engineer for all I care, but for long as I pay your salary, your ass is mine!
Quinn shrugged and first dropped his meager belongings stuffed into a sturdy backpack off in his temporary room, where he also changed clothes again to a simple pilots overall. Once dressed for the occasion, he moved up the ship to the cockpit, where he found the annoying Captain Solo waiting impatiently for him. Beggars couldn't be choosers and when he was informed about her intentions to head to Naboo to pick up a replacement partner there after her co-pilot had been killed in a bar brawl here on Courosant, he'd instantly jumped on as temporary co-pilot.
Piloting, astronavigation, gunnery, ship maintenance and repair had all been part of his Jedi training. While he had no experience whatsoever with this particular model, Captain Lan Solo had been satisfied enough with his credentials that she'd taken him on without hesitation, no questions asked.
Quinn was somewhat hesitant himself, however.
Captain Solo seemed to be completely and utterly fascinated with the word 'ass'. It had a place in nearly every single sentence she voiced. It was amusing for the first minute, grew a little old in the second and by the third, it was starting to get annoying as hell.
"Ready to go, Solo." he stated as he slid into his seat.
"Kick ass!" she exclaimed and the ship took off almost the same second the engine started, almost crashing into another ship about to take off.
+Hold, Starstrider! You do not have permission for take-off+ an angry voice over the radio barked out at them.
"You can take your permission and shove it up your ass!" Lan barked right back and Quinn was pressed back into his seat, as Lan increased the thrust and the Starstrider shot forward. "You and your tight ass ready for the life of a lifetime?" she asked and smirked in Quinns direction.
"Oh, yeah. Can't wait..." Quinn grunted and grasped the controls in front of him, wondering just what the hell he'd signed up for.
A former Jedi Knight, a crazy female captain and a banged-up freighter that looked as if it was just about to fall apart.
Yeah, this should be fun...
The End! ( For now... )