Chapter 2: The Night Blood Rained
Iziz, Republic Army and Onderonian Resistance hideout
As Seja, the Mandalorian slayer left the hideout, Roland's bodyguard Micheal, a Twi'lek man walked up to Roland. The twi'lek gave the Republic Commander a cup of juma as well as a datapad. He nodded, and began to sip the beverage.
'It seems the Mandalorians have finally caught wind of Seja,' Roland thought, sipping the juma slowly, 'It makes sense, his kills have exceeded over a hundred and fifty in just these past few months…' he took the cup of juma down from his lips, "It has almost been a year since he joined us, and perhaps he has matured, but he seems so different."
"What does the report say, Roland?" Vaklu asked, walking away from the bush he was inspecting.
"The report says that the Mandalorians have begun training anti-assassins, calling for all races who hate the Republic to join them…" Roland replied, placing the datapad gently down at his feet, "This isn't good. The Mandalorian Slayer is now their target."
"The boy is skilled enough to handle it," Vaklu commented, "He has killed 150 of the Mandalorian's best, hasn't he?"
"Let's just hope…" Roland replied, looking down at the fish pond, 'I don't want his innocence, his purity, to be given up for nothing. Because he is so pure, he is starting to feel the difference between just being a Jedi and an assassin.'
Iziz Cantina
Seja was resting in one of the booths of the pub, waiting for his food order to get to him. He quietly placed his juma juice down on the table, and looked down at it. His lightsaber was concealed, and the civilian clothes he was now wearing made him look like just an ordinary Onderonian.
'It's no good,' he thought, listening to the hustle and bustle of the Cantina, 'Whatever I drink tastes like blood these days.'
'I started drinking about two months ago, soon after I was wounded on the cheek,' he continued thinking, 'Not once have I thought it was good. But only recently it has tasted like blood.'
The image of his Master, Jedi Master Okih Jiro flashed in his mind, drinking a flask of Tarisian Ale.
'I learned my swordsmanship and Force powers from you, Master…but my drinking been self-taught.'
The waitress then brought him his food, a simple plate of soup, noodles, and food bars for later. He thanked her quietly, trying to ignore the pazaak game being played near him. The two players were making quite a stir, and it would have annoyed the hell out of a normal person, but Seja kept the serene calm of a Jedi as he ate his meal.
Suddenly, the talking stopped slowly, and the tapping of light feet were heard. A woman, with gray skin and red hair, wearing a simple short dress that covered her small frame sat behind Seja, and a waitress walked over to her.
"Tarisian ale, please," she asked the waitress, who nodded.
"Want something stronger than juma, I guess," the waitress asked and the woman nodded, "Be back soon hon."
Seja continued to eat as the strange woman waited for her ale to be brought to her. The Jedi's eyes wandered noticing two men, with obviously fake Republic Army uniforms were eyeing her and chuckling. As soon the waitress brought the woman her ale, she poured it in the cup and began drinking it immediately. After a few seconds, she had finished, and breathed out slowly. When she looked up, the two men who were gawking her were hovering over her. Both of them then slammed their glasses in front of her.
"Hey woman!" one of them yelled, slamming his juma juice bottle on the table.
The other one then grinned, "You will pour us our drinks!"
"We are Republic Soldiers from Cathar!" the first one yelled; smoke seemingly coming out of his nose.
"Every day we risk our lives for you commoners!"
"You should be grateful to serve us!"
A twi'lek, named Kiph, smugly said, "Cathar isn't even part of the Republic, fool."
"What did you say!" the big one who slammed the juice bottle roared, going for his vibroblade.
The whole cantina quieted down from that outburst, and both faux Republic soldiers grinned.
"That's right, keep your mouths shut."
"Saved your life."
"Yes, you did save your lives. If you'd drawn fully, you would have faced me," a voice said from behind the two faux soldiers.
"Wha…" the larger faux soldier, the one who threatened the people in the cantina and the red haired girl roared, turning around, drawing his vibroblade.
But, a hand was put on the pommel of his blade, stopping it from being drawn. He saw the young man, Seja, standing before him, looking unemotionally at him.
"I'll warn you once. The time where real Republic troops will be walking threw these streets is soon. The chaos that is already here will only grow worse," Seja told the man, with a shadow over his eyes, and he looked up, showing his golden yellow eyes to the man, "There is no room for false Republic troops in Iziz anymore. If you value your life, hurry along home."
The larger man and his partner stood in dumbfounded silence from the younger man's warning. Suddenly, they were beginning to be booed by the cantina patrons/
"That's right!"
More boos were thrown at them
"Get out of Iziz you fakes!"
Suddenly, two bouncers came up and escorted the two faux Republic soldiers out of the cantina. Seja then put his credits on the table, and began to leave.
"I've caused a stir, thank you, and goodbye," he told the Bith barkeep, who nodded thanks as he walked past everyone in the cantina.
"That kid is a good one."
"A true righteous warrior."
The red haired woman listened to the comments being made of Seja, and began to drink her ale again. The music resumed, and the regular talking and pazaak games continued. The woman opened her eyes and stared intently at the windows, watching the young man leave.
Iziz streets
Seja walked passed groups of salvagers, beast riders, and droids all trying to make a living in the harsh area of Iziz near the cantina. He walked passed a couple of dead bodies, neither Onderon Resistance nor Mandalorian; he suspected just a simple territory fight between the various Beast Rider gangs of this sector. Walking past a few more buildings, he began to look at the ground.
'So now, juma tastes like fouled blood,' he thought, slowing down to let a few salvager children run past him, 'I've never been angered by such little men before…'
He then gazed up to the starry sky, seeing the flashes of turbolaser fire. The space battle, as well as the air battle for Dxun was still going on. The battle was still raging, a year after it had started. The Mandalorians were excellent warriors for them to last this long.
'Master…' he thought, starting to recall the night after one of his most difficult training sessions on Dantooine…
"The blossoms on the trees should be falling soon, so peaceful. Stars in the summer, a full moon in the autumn, and snow in the winter," Master Okih reminisced, thinking of the ever changing seasons of Dantooine, "That is enough for Juma and Ale to taste good."
Master Okih was a tall, muscular human. He wore his black hair up in a pony-tail, and wore a heavy, weighed down cape over his Jedi robe. Despite looking like he was a teenager, he was really just 27 standard years old, and already a Jedi Master.
"If they still repel you, you must be sick," the kind Jedi Master joked, before taking a sip from his Tarisian ale flask.
'Sick, I could very well be…' Seja thought as he closed his eyes and continued walking, 'But the Jedi Code and the Super Shien style teaches me to protect people from the suffering of this war. This must be the right time.'
"But master! Doesn't the Jedi Code tell us it is forbidden to keep people in suffering? Aren't we supposed to help them?" The younger Seja yells at his master, Okih Jiro in the Coruscant Jedi Temple, "Are we suppose to keep hidden in these temples of ours, while the Mandalorians and their allies make the Republic and it's innocent people suffer? Master?"
"The Code, as well as the Council tells us we should wait to see who is provoking the Mandalorians into conflict, young Seja," Okih replied, looking at the massive fountain before him, "Even though you have just become a Knight, Seja, your training in the Super Shien style hasn't been completed. Once it has, you'll be a skilled Jedi, both in the Force and in the ways of the Lightsaber; you will also have a calm head enabling you to see the bigger picture."
"But Master!" Seja started, as his surrogate father, friend, and Jedi teacher sighed.
"What do you think you'll do on the field of battle? The Jedi arts, although excellent for healing, depend on you killing your enemy. What do you want to become, a murderer?" Master Okih questioned him, stunning Seja for a second.
"If I can stop the suffering of billions under the Mandalorians heel, I'll gladly become a murderer to save them!" Seja retorted, his anger flaring, "The Code tells us it is the right thing to do!"
Master Okih then looked away at him, "Go, if you feel you must. But before you leave, you must defeat me first."
Seja growled, grabbed his blue lightsaber, put it on it's lowest setting, and he slammed it into the back of his master's head. Making the Jedi fall to the ground, and he immediately got up, his hand on the back of his head.
"You hit me? You actually hit me?" Okih gasped, veins popping on his head as he looked at his pupil.
"It's because you don't get it!" Seja yelled, turning off his lightsaber, and he bowed, "Sorry Master, but I feel I have to do this. The Force is telling me I must."
"Then go, and don't darken my door ever again," Okih told him darkly, and he walked away from his pupil, then he looked back, "You are still a Jedi, Seja, don't make me regret leaving you with that title."
"Master, why didn't you try to stop me back then?" Seja asked, hoping for an answer from the skies, from the Force, or from his master.
He continued walking to the Merchant Quarter of Iziz, not noticing he was being followed. The two faux Republic soldiers were stalking him from the alleys of Iziz; both had their blasters and/or vibroblades out.
"Alright, we picked the right road! He's coming!" the larger of the two faux soldiers yelled with bloodlust, fingering his blaster pistol intently.
"H-hey, are you sure you want to do this?" his smaller cohort asked nervously, holding his vibroblade up.
"After being insulted like that? No way in hell!" he roared, slapping a power pack into his blaster, "And don't worry about the body, with this 'Mandalorian Slayer' running about, no one will suspect a couple of guys like us!"
"B-But that's murder!"
"Iziz runs on murder these days remember?" he retorted, not noticing a cloaked dark figure coming behind them.
"So it does," the two of them looked back to the cloak figure, who was holding two lightsabers, which were connected by a long chain, "And you are in my way. Disappear."
A snap-hiss was heard, catching Seja's attention. From the alley, he saw a red glow and heard the sickening slashing sound of a lightsaber. Suddenly, one of the men he confronted in the cantina was running towards him
"Help me! Somebody please help me!" the smaller faux Republic soldier screamed, before his body was engulfed in a dark lightning, and he fell to the ground.
Seja brought his lightsaber out his civilian clothes, but kept it off. His opponent was still not visible, and he didn't want to give himself away. Suddenly, the cloaked figure appeared, holding two dark red lightsabers connected by the chain. His mouth was covered by a breathable cloth, the robes he was wearing were obviously not connected to the Order, due to the darkness of their color, and he had dark golden eyes, hinting he had fallen to the Dark Side.
"You must be the Mandalorian Slayer…" the Dark Jedi said, holding up his lightsaber.
Seja's blue eyes shifted to his killing eyes, golden yellow, and he replied, "What are you talking about?"
"Play the fool if you want, but I've done my research. The Mandalorians want you dead," the Dark Jedi replied, raising his lightsabers up, "They've gone so far to higher Dark Jedi like me to exterminate you. That is why I've been awaiting you here…"
"…for your life!" the Dark Jedi roared, tossing his left lightsaber with the Force at Seja.
Immediately, he ignited his weapon and with a horizontal slash deflected the Sith Lightsaber down to the ground.
'The Mandalorians must be really getting desperate, they swore never to ally themselves with Sith nor Dark Jedi ever since the Great Sith War…' Seja thought, turning his lightsaber to a vertical slash at the Dark Jedi, who had suddenly encircled him with the chain, and leapt up to the top of the wall, 'He is an assassin of the shadows meant to never be revealed until now!'
Seja looked down to see his arms wrapped by the chain, and he couldn't use his Lightsaber to cut them. He then looked to see the Dark Jedi had started his final part of his attack. Pointing his red lightsaber horizontally down to the ground, he roared "Prepare!" as he closed the gap.
Seja grabbed the chain and yanked his enemy's lightsaber out of the ground desperately. It was the on the lowest power so it could basically be an anchored weight for the chain. Quickly, he turned it onto the highest setting he flipped the Lightsaber up to his forearm and turned to his enemy. He threw a punch with the red lightsaber pointing up, catching the Dark Jedi off guard on the shoulder. The Dark Jedi fell onto his own blade, and the velocity he was going made his whole body get cut in half from his shoulder to his legs. Blood began to flow out, splattering everywhere.
The Dark Jedi died instantly, his blood becoming a rain in the small area. Seja panted, and his eyes reverted back to normal as sweat dropped down his face. He dropped the Dark Jedi's lightsaber, allowing the chain to fall off his body. Slowly, he turned off his own blue lightsaber, and he heard soft footsteps behind him as the blood continued splattering the area.
"I came after to thank you for earlier," a soft, womanly voice, which sounded familiar to Seja started, "They say it 'rains blood' at scenes of battle…"
The Jedi turned around to see the red haired beauty before him, covered in droplets of the Dark Jedi's blood. She was wearing the same short dress and sandals she was wearing in the cantina, yet they were covered in blood. He was…captivated…
"You truly…make blood rain…" the girl says before she starts to faint.
Without thinking, Seja runs to her, catching her as she blacks out.
"So she fainted…" Seja said out loud, breathing a sight of relief, "Well, her response to all this blood was fairly quick," and he looked down at her, 'What she says confuses me…ah, forget about it.'
He then looked around, noticing his handiwork everywhere.
"What am I going to do about this place? I can't leave a witness after all…" Seja says to him, with the girl in his arms, "Great. My first night in Iziz with a girl, and I don't know what to do," he turned around, and started walking, "Well, there is no other choice…" he began walking away from the scene, the girls head rested on his shoulder, but he stopped, 'her perfume…smells lie red lilac…' and then smell something else, and looked down to her, and a sour look appeared on his face, "Something is very amiss here…"
He then began running towards a Republic safe house in the Merchant Quarter. It was where the spies could confer with Roland, giving them their information, and where soldiers and assassins like him could rest.
Iziz, Merchant Quarter, The Beast Inn
The Beast Inn, a hideout for the Republic Soldiers and the Onderonian Resistance, was founded by Beast Riders from the older generation. It was owned by a kindly old woman named Chezial Sann, who had joined the Republic and Resistance when Republic soldiers began showing up in Iziz. The Mandalorians would never suspect that an Inn was one of the Resistance headquarters was right under their very nose.
Seja came up to the front door, with the girl in his arms, "…well, I'm home."
He didn't make it two steps into the lobby when Mrs. Sann came out of one of the rooms, making him jump and his hair stand up, "Oh, Mr. Kimura! You're home a bit late…" and then she looked down at the girl he was carrying, "Mr. Kimura, what are you doing?"
"Nothing! It isn't what it looks like!" Seja replied immediately, his pupils narrowing as sweat dropped off his face, "I didn't do anything strange…she just fainted, that's all!"
She looked at the red head, and frowned. Then she looked up at Seja.
"Isn't this girl just plain drunk?" she asked, as Seja's eyes narrowed and they both looked at each other like that for a few minutes, "You didn't meet her at some cantina, did you? I thought Jedi were above such things…well, get yourself clean and changed, okay?"
"Fine..." Seja replied, walking away. He never had been so embarrassed in his entire life, not even when Aerin Dakar of Deralia tried to flirt with both him and Revan when they took their Knight test.
Ergot then poked his head out of the kitchen, to see Chezial standing there, watching Seja walk away with the girl in his arms. In his mouth was a cigara, and he was half awake, his long hair all messy and uncombed.
"Yo, Mrs. Sann, what's up?"
"Nothing. Roland wants me to look after Kimura…" Chezial started, and then she dropped the bombshell on Ergot.
"WHAT?" Ergot yelled in disbelief, "Seja brought home a girl?"
His cigara dropped out his mouth, and he stood there trembling and chuckling at the prospects.
'Wow, Seja with a girl…' he mused as he went back into the kitchen to get some caffa.
Seja had put the girl on the spare cot in his room, and was sitting near his bureau on the floor. He had placed his lightsaber down on the ground near him, and his vibroblade was leaning against a cushion.
"Yeesh, so she's some drunk…right?" Seja asked himself, looking down at the sleeping woman, 'Yet, the scent red lilac and blood…that's an odd combination…'
Iziz, Beast Inn, the next morning
The sound of alarms and birds chirping was a welcome change from the screams of blaster bolts and the clanging of vibroblades that the soldiers there were used to. Seja awoke in his room, his vibroblade resting on his shoulder. He looked to the cot, to see that the girl was gone.
"What?" Seja gasped, looking down at the cot, and he rose to his feet as quickly as he could, 'Oh great! She's gone!'
He then bolted out of the door. He ran down the hall as fast as he could, looking for the inn keep. He then ran to the lobby, opening the door, and nearly tripping as he did.
"Mrs. Wann!" Seja yelled as he looked up, to see Chezial handing the red head a bunch of trays.
"Please take this to Mr. Isosana's room, okay?" Chezial asked the taller girl wryly, who nodded.
"Okay," she said plainly, making Seja collapse for the fact that she was accepting this work.
"Morning, Mr. Kimura. Hey, this girl is a real good worker," Chezial joked, looking as Seja grumbled to himself on the ground.
He rose to his feet, and put his hand on his head, "Um…?"
"You want my name?" the girl asked politely, as Seja rubbed his forehead, "Its Callista."
"Well, Callista, mind telling me what you are doing?" Seja asked as he followed her up threw the halls.
"What do you think I'm doing?" Callista retorted, as Seja continued to walk behind her.
"…helping the kitchen?" Seja countered, looking at the floor now.
"Good guess," Callista said a bit rudely, and she stopped at one door.
"Um, we need to talk," Seja started as Callista typed in the door's code, and it opened.
"I'm busy. Can you do it later?" Callista retorted, walking into the room and placing the tray down, "Sorry to have kept your breakfast waiting!"
Suddenly, a whole group of men, ranging from the mid twenties to later thirties had gathered around Callista. There mouths were all opened at the beauty before them. Seja tripped once more at this reaction.
"THIS is Kimura's girl?" Ergot asked, trying to hide his drool.
"She's a beauty!" another one gasped.
"Older too!"
"And she is just as polite as Seja!"
Callista stood there, quietly for a second. She bit her lip, and then bowed.
"I'm Callista, nice to meet you all," she said quietly, as Seja rose to his feet, wearing a crazy looking face.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Seja growled, and Ergot walked over to him and began rubbing his hair.
"What're you so shy about you sly bachelor?" Ergot joked, rubbing his hair playfully, "I thought Jedi weren't suppose to do this sort of thing."
"Oh, you can talk Mr. Brutus…" Seja growled, blushing madly from the comments that were made, and a vein popped on his forehead.
"Well, how was it, old buddy?" Ergot asked once again, wanting, if any, all the perverted details.
Seja's eyes just shifted and he cracked his knuckles. All the men back away as quickly as they could, scared out of their minds. Seja calmed down, and began to walk off.
"Man, I almost forgot that he is still the Slayer," Ergot gasped, and breathing heavily from Seja's simple display of power.
"…can't have fun without risking out lives…"
Seja huffed, "What's to become of our unit if you act like that?" he questioned with his eyes closed, "We need to guard Mr. Wann, right?"
Ergot then pointed behind him, and Seja turned around to see Roland sitting at the table, eating his breakfast. He stiffened up as Roland did an "Ahem" to him.
"I knew the Republic Soldiers were shallow…but…" Seja muttered, covering his eyes in embarrassment, while a huge sweat drop formed on his brow.
"Love affairs aren't common on Coruscant. Besides, I still have my wife…" Roland told Seja, rising out of his chair and walking forward.
"Well, can we have a serious talk?" Seja asked him, not making eye contact at all.
"Sure. I agree completely," Roland replied, sipping his caffa.
To be Continued…