—•—
(All named characters are the property of Disney and LucasFilm, except:
Leonidas and HK are the property of darksawr; Zeri Bonteri is the property of Johnt12345.)
—•—
The Rescue of Luminara Unduli
Chapter Three
A Worrisome Prospect
—•—
Continued from the last chapter:
As the Admiral got up and turned away, coincidentally at the same time as another patron in Mandalorian armor did the same, Asajj opened the packet. In it, she found a key card for a bank tucked nicely in with a Republic pardon for all her crimes, honored in perpetuity by the signer, one E. Palpatine, Chancellor of the Republic. She looked up with surprise to see the Admiral about halfway between her and the dancer women from Shili, who were, fortuitously, next to the door. And then—
And then, all hell broke loose.
—•—
"Get down! Now!" Lux Bonteri, Vice Admiral to the Alliance to Restore the Republic, shouted to the pretty Shili girls sitting a little ways away at a table close to the door in the Togruti-B version of their native language—takinaroo! ista!—as he brought his staves to bear. The girls did so, two of them screaming; one because she accidentally hit her montrals on the edge of the table; another because she was too slow in putting two-and-two together of someone not Togruta speaking the Togruti variant for humans to her and she was grazed with a stray blaster bolt. He protected the girls for a short moment from the blaster fire headed his way.
The two staves, when joined together, made a formidable staff weapon against a Sith lightsaber or another staff. But apart, they made an even better weapon against a blaster. The admiral was able to deflect blaster shots away from the girls and the other patrons, redirecting them back to their origins. Fortunately, their backup quickly arrived through the roof in the form of Kanan and Sabine, firing away and disarming their opponents even before they landed on the floor. Unfortunately, though, there were quite a few for the duo to take care of. Not quite a few—too many.
"Tunwoxwedi. Quapih eagare tochunaroo! Gurji!" /i'll protect you. move over to the door and get out of here! quickly!/ Lux told the girls as soon as there was a short respite in the firing. They quickly did so with the Admiral putting himself between them and the passel of bounty hunters. It was only a short moment later that the bounty hunters were back after him. Asajj, however, the very reason he, Kanan, Leonidas, and Sabine were here, seemed to be observing the fight with slight interest. Boredom, actually.
The two Mandolorians, one Leonidas, went straight for each other. They charged each other in the vital first few microseconds; the better to take down the other before he knew what happened. They were both Mandolorians and they charged each other with like violence. Leonidas leaped at the Mando, and the other Mando did the same. They both kicked each other a blow that would have ended a lesser opponent forever. However, these contestants, both furious in their demeanor, simply got back up.
"Leonidas, it has been a long time," said his opponent.
"Still working for Hutt scum, I see, Boba Fett. You won't get away with this."
"Prove it."
"I intend to," said Leonidas as he pulled out his dark saber from his pack. Activating it, it lengthened menacingly, as it was supposed to do. He then readied himself for the fight to defuse this threat, but also to keep him away from the others, one of whom he was going to protect with his all.
Leonidas came in first with a quick, hard down-thrust to Fett. The bounty hunter rocketed out of the way with his booster-pack, all the while unpacking his twin blasters and shooting at Leonidas, who had the excellent skill to block each and every bolt away from him, like the Jedi of old. Fett was a little shocked, but it didn't show as he kept the firing rate up. Fortunately for Leonidas, one of the blocked shots hit an ally of of Boba Fett's in the leg, disabling him, only to be taken down fully by Sabine from the side.
Both Sabine and Kanan had come bursting through the thin roof of this Tatooine building and were firing their blasters even before they hit the floor. One bounty hunter got very close to Sabine but she took out this scum with her dark saber, like Leonidas had taught her. Kanan, however, seemed to be having trouble. The battle was close so he couldn't use his blaster as much as he wanted to—and the last thing he could do was to brandish his lightsaber. That would bring dozens more—even those who could care less about what Boba Fett was doing here in the first place; just to get a chance to take down a Jedi. So Kanan had to use his fists more than he wanted or was used to. Fortunately, Sabine was there to give him some pointers.
"Squawman! You hit like a little girl! What are you doing?! You're going to get us both killed!"
So much for the pointers. Fortunately, just then the two bounty hunters took a laughing double-take at Kanan's call-sign. That gave him the instant to give one a hard upper-cut to the jaw and the other, a hard hit into the face. They both got knocked whoosy so then Kanan could finish them off in his usual fashion quickly with his blaster pistol.
"I knew that stupid name would come in handy," was Kanan's take on the moment to Sabine.
"Good job," was her only response.
The Admiral, meanwhile, was in a deal of hurt. He had two bounty hunters on him. One would be shooting a blaster at him while the other would try to come in on him to deal a thrust with a Tusken gaffee stick. These two were serious, going for the kill.
Zeb, who saw the Togruta girls flee the cantina screaming, came to the door.
"Stay there, Gummy Bear!" Skipper shouted. Yet again, another call-sign saved the day as the two bounty hunters then attacking Lux couldn't help but laugh at poor Zeb's call-sign, letting their guard down. One swipe by the Admiral and one shot from Zeb finished off the two. Lux and Zeb thought they had a rest and were ready to help the others, only to see two fresh bounty hunters come seemingly out of the woodwork after the pair.
"We need you for the retreat," Lux used the precious moments to say to Zeb.
"But Skipper—"
"That's an order. Shoot from the door but don't come in. Get HK in here for me pronto. Get Airbear topside!"
"Yes, sir." Zeb was a little dejected but after calling the droid, he stayed close to the door to shoot at a bounty hunter who was stupid enough to get close to the door. Then HK came up to him. "Inside, wire-brain." Zeb then quickly called Hera for air support or for a flying getaway.
HK came into the cantina; but for the first time in his activation, he didn't know what to do. He saw a fight in front of him, but he had orders from the Admiral to not shoot. He was about to overload his circuits when he heard someone shouting to him.
"HK! What the heck are you doing?! Get into this! Now!" HK turned a little to see the Admiral, fighting with his staff against another who had a smaller bo-staff. "What are you doing?!" the Admiral shouted again. "Shoot them!"
"I am under orders to not engage the enemy. Your orders, Skipper."
"Belay that order!"
"I do not recognize that command, sir."
"What?!"
"I do not—"
"I don't care what don't recognize! Belay that last order!"
"I do not recognize that command, sir."
The Admiral had two bounty hunters to deal with at the moment, his two staves twirling like a lightsaber—which was thanks to his wife. The last thing he wanted to hassle with was a crazy droid.
"Scuttle that—" the Admiral said after a hit across the face of a bounty hunter.
"I do not—"
"Rescind that—" after tripping one up.
"I do not—"
"Quit that—" upon knocking one out who came back on him.
"I do not—"
"Delete that—" après upending the first one.
"I do not—"
"Scrap that—" after upending a hunter.
"I do not—"
"You will be!" straight to the droid.
"I— Mm?"
"Mando-One! Assistance!" Lux yelled in between hits with the bounty hunters. But Leonidas was busy on his own and couldn't assist the Admiral even if he wanted to. He could hear the problem but couldn't get the chance to help. Boba Fett was on him and he was too far away and there was a deafening din caused by the fight.
Boba Fett himself just became very dangerous because he just branded high his own dark saber. Where he got it, no one knew—perhaps his father. Right then, Boba Fett came in with a strong leap and a high down thrust against Leonidas. Leonidas parried it expertly and then attacked with a high roundhouse kick, which Boba Fett ducked just as expertly. They then both went into each other with killing down-thrusts and one was able to parry the other. Again and again, they went into each other and each time the strike was blocked away. There was a miraculous opening by Boba Fett and Leonidas deftly took advantage with another high roundhouse kick that got Boba Fett solidly in the side. He rolled away from Leonidas and then activated his booster pack again and got out of the way of the charging Leonidas. Boba Fett was good, very good. As he was flying up in the air towards the high ceiling, Leonidas saw his chance to assist the Admiral with HK.
"HK! Cancel that last order from Skipper!" That was all he could do as he had to avoid Boba Fett, who in the short moment had positioned himself well against Leonidas.
"Yes! Cancel that last order!" yelled the Admiral.
In a nanosecond, HK came to bear with his blaster. "Take this, skinjobs!"
"Hey bolthead," shouted Zeb between shots to HK, "Who said you could take my line?"
"Take this, meatbags!"
"Just don't kill anyone!" shouted Lux right after. For a second time, Lux could see a dejected HK.
"All right," responded the droid lackadaisically as he started to nonchalantly shoot his blaster to put some of the bounty hunters out of business. After a few shots, HK went over to assist his master outside this mission, Leonidas, who was back again fighting with Boba Fett. Boba Fett had suddenly activated his backpack and quickly flew into the air all the while leaving a trail of small grenades blasting in his wake, tearing up the flooring of the dance area.
Now it was getting serious. HK was knocked back since most of the poppers were aimed at him but Leonidas took after Boba Fett for what he was worth. He then leaped with a jet-pack assisted leap at the scruffy green bounty hunter, knocking him back to the floor. But Boba Fett was up in a flash, brandishing his arm turning on a switch on his wrist, letting out a jet of fire that would have burned Leonidas to nothing if he hadn't ducked. Suddenly, as Boba Fett shortened the distance between him and Leonidas, going in for the chance at a kill, the loudest noise erupted from all sides of the cantina. In a second, scores of guards and like-dressed bounty hunters in the uniform of Jabba the Hutt brought blasters to bear on the aggressors. "In the name of Jabba the Hutt, ruler of this land, Stand Down! Bounty hunters!" shouted a tall, blue Twi'lek man with one lekku wrapped around his neck.
In a short time, they were put out of commission and Boba Fett detained. The crew of the Ghost, Leonidas, and the Admiral could finally put their guards at rest.
"Bib!" shouted Admiral Bonteri, "You're a life-saver," he ended exasperatingly. He then looked to Zeb, but not using his call-sign—they didn't want anymore trouble—"Call off Airbear," he said quietly. Then, with a nod, Zeb went to do just that off to the side a ways.
Bib Fortuna responded with a nod. "That's why I'm here Admiral," he smiled. "Actually, I'm here to get you as well. Jabba wants to see you about your prisoner." Bib Fortuna then looked at Boba Fett. "You are lucky Jabba likes you so much, Boba. He is not pleased with this."
"I'm not gonna pass up the bounty on this rebel here."
"And that is why Jabba will most likely go easy on you. But you'll have to do it later, on your own time; not while Jabba still pays you."
"Understood. You got friends in high places, rebel," Boba Fett said straight in the Admiral's face, "I'll get you yet," Boba Fett said as he turned and left the cantina unopposed.
"Wait a minute," Kanan protested, "You can't just let him go!"
"Neither can I keep him. I am under orders from Jabba."
"I understand, Bib," replied the Admiral, trying to keep Kanan in check. "Thank you for the save. Let's go see what Jabba wants," he said after exhaling a deep breath as he started to leave alone with Bib.
"Jabba also wants to see whoever is in charge of the one known as Ezra Bridger. He wants to say something to him," Bib said suddenly.
"That would be me," replied Kanan.
"Then let's go," replied Bib with the air of someone who has his orders followed—mostly because of this boss.
However, they were quickly interrupted by Asajj Ventress, who deftly got between the men and the speeder.
"You will bring back what I gave you, loverboy, as soon as you are finished. No questions asked. If you do not, I will hunt you down to the end of my days," Asajj finished seriously. The Admiral was dumbfounded at this, so all he could do was nod in understanding.
"A promise is a promise, Asajj," said Lux. And with that, the trio went to the speeder Bib came on, leaving the guards to police up the cantina and leave on the larger transport they came on. Before the Admiral got into the waiting speeder, he said quietly to Leonidas, "Mando-One, take Supermodel and Gummy Bear to Home Base. I have a feeling you'll be needed there before soon." Leonidas simply nodded, and the three went to wherever Hera parked the Ghost.
The trip in the speeder was short but quiet, Kanan was especially worried what Jabba wanted him for. He didn't know how Jabba knew Ezra even existed.
Soon, they entered precincts of the Palace. Small Hutt guard ships were lazily parked haphazardly around with the usual Nikto and Gamorrean guards lolling about. But yet, there seemed to be a tenseness in the guards that was in-discernable except to all but the most perceptive. Such was Lux, comparing now to that last visit he made to the Palace of Jabba to lock up the supposed Inquisitor for safe-keeping by Jabba, who was the reason for this visit now, according to Bib Fortuna. But he did notice this slight change in the atmosphere of the palace, didn't know why it was there, and was concerned for the reason for this new sensation.
Soon, Bib Fortuna lead Lux and Kanan through the passages, all the while the noise of the band and the smell of the alcoholic stupor were getting louder and stronger. Then the two entered the throne room of Jabba the Hutt. Divers species, what seemed at least one representative for each planet of the Galaxy, populated the relatively small room. Gamorreans, being the guards of the palace, where the most common single species, but there were others as well—Twi'lek, Duros, Amani, Bith, Human, of course, Theelin, Pau'an, and many others. Fortunately, Lux thought for some reason, there were no Togruta girls—at least not in his ken. But he knew that Jabba had many small rooms throughout the palace.
Lux then went and stood on the metal grating that was before the Thorne of Jabba the Hutt. He then wondered why this grating was there. What was under this? The last time he was here, he remembered, the same metal grating was there but it was more solid to the step than now. However, there was no time to contemplate this as he was before the Hutt. He then bowed to Jabba, as all do, but in a more friendly attitude than others.
"Lux Bonteri!" Jabba said through his interpreter droid, "Long time no see. The Rebellion keeping you busy? Or is it that big family?" Jabba finished with a deep barrel-laugh. There was no animosity from Jabba to this person.
Lux laughed along with Jabba, "Sometimes I can't tell the difference."
"Yes, yes," returned Jabba, "I know what you mean," said Jabba, ending contemplatively, which Lux couldn't pick up from the droid doing all the translating, but from the attitude of the large Hutt. "You know, Admiral, I've known Ahsoka longer than you but I could never imagine so many children inside her."
"Yes, me either," Lux said, causing a laugh from both. "Jabba," Lux returned to seriousness, "Thank you for the save."
"No problem. About that—I don't know why you are here, but I suppose you have a purpose. It just so happens that something occurred with your prisoner just a little while ago that I thought you should know about."
"What was that, if I may ask."
"She had her head chopped off."
The seriousness and the silence was thick throughout the Throne Room. Lux was shocked. "Can I see her?" he asked after gaining control of his emotions.
"Certainly. One of my guards will take you there. Make sure you see me on your way out."
"Thank you, Jabba." Then a Gammorean guard lead Lux and Kanan down some dark paths, towards the prison under this palace. Jabba, being in control of the majority of the planet, was ruler and could imprison those who displeased him. When Lux was last here just a little while ago, helping to incarcerate the woman whom they are going to see now, the rooms were mostly empty. Now, however, more of them were filled in a very short time. That brought Lux to think of the changes he felt in the atmosphere of the Palace. He sensed the tenseness of the guard leading him, as well as those who were not only guarding the palace outside, but also from, interestingly, Bib Fortuna. Then he realized the reason why. For some reason, almost imperceptible, Jabba had changed. There seemed something to be different about him. He wasn't here day in and day out, but he knew there must have been some reason for the change. Jabba seemed to be more short and impatient with others than before.
Finally, the clanging of the opening of a large door brought him out of his thoughts. The door opened and the first thing to hit him was a very bad smell. So bad that he had to put in a great effort to not vomit on the spot. Kanan had a similar attitude and was also fortunately able to control his emotions. There was not only the smell of death, but also the smell of rotting and dead vegetation. It was a smell he wished he never had to encounter and a smell he would never forget without an involuntary retching of his stomach. However, for some reason, he did not hold his nose. He would have in other circumstances but now he thought if he did so, it would get back to Jabba, and if so, it would not go over well. He didn't want to upset the Hutt. He then realized that this was a new feeling in his dealings with the Hutt, just not doing a simple action for fear of upsetting Jabba. This was perhaps an effect of the differences he felt between the previous visit and the one now. Kanan as well, thankfully, did not hold his nose.
So Lux went to the slim body in the middle of the room and bent down to examine her. Although her appearance had changed, he did recognize her. She seemed a little more harried, if that expression could be used to describe this. It was as if for her each day was an experience she wanted to forget.
The space that separated her head from her neck was clean and straight, telling of a skilled swordsman, and the cut itself, cauterized, was proof that that swordsman was proficient with a lightsaber. Putting these together caused a drop in the gut of the Admiral that he had never felt before—a feeling, from the Force perhaps for this one who was strong but not one who was mastered in it day in and day out. He felt the greatest danger and that an unaccountable evil had murderous plans on his wife and girls. From that moment, a furrowed brow was prominent, and would be present on his face in some form until he could make sure his family was safe.
He and Kanan then left. The guard could tell the nothing of what happened so Lux figured he just had to wait until he could get back to the Throne Room. Kanan almost had to help him, so worried and concentrated he was on this new menace to the family that he could barely keep his way. After some turns and some growls and screams from unknown species coming from the cells along the way, they made their appearance in the relatively well-lit Throne Room. Both the Admiral and Kanan came once more before Jabba the Hutt. Jabba noticed the sudden change in Lux.
"I see," Jabba brought Lux out of his worried thoughts through the translator droid, "You have seen something that worries you."
Lux was worried. He nodded and then asked if anyone saw her.
"My people tell me she looked like Mina, but with slightly different face patterns," informed Jabba. If there was something that could have worried him more, this was it. An assassin that looked like one of his daughters; one who could easily, through the the kindness of his own daughters, infiltrate and destroy his family. Bib Fortuna and others who saw her then described her in detail for the Admiral.
Then there was a pause and a great silence in the Throne Room. Lux didn't know what to say. "Well, no matter," came Jabba back again in a voice that caused Lux to suddenly look up to the Hutt, "My promise is done. No more is there reason to protect you." Lux's looked seriously at the sudden change in attitude from Jabba. "You may leave this one time. Come again, you are on your own," Jabba finished through his droid.
"Yes, thank you for your promise and protection, Jabba," the Hutt then looked angrily at Lux, "the Great," he quickly added. The Hutt then looked askance at the Admiral, a look he had never given him. "For your promise and protection, I would like to give you recompense," Lux returned, hoping the Hutt did not notice the slight shock in his voice that would be mistaken for fear. It was not. He then took out some small gems, each one worth more than a case of credits, and was about to give them to his majordomo, Bib Fortuna, but Jabba yelled that they should be given him directly as he held out his plump green hand. Lux then went slowly, all the while under the watchful eye of Kanan, to give the gems to Jabba. He put the gems in his hand but then Jabba suddenly closed his fist over Lux's hand. It was the first time he had ever touched Jabba. The Hutt looked closely at him.
"You have already been paying me to watch over the woman. Why do you give me so many, now that duty is done, Admiral Bonteri?" Then, "Are you afraid of me?" Jabba asked through his translator droid. There was a long silence while Jaaba was still holding Lux's hand in a tight grip. Then he suddenly let go. "ARE YOU AFRAID OF ME?" This time, there was no translation from the droid. One wasn't needed. The entire Throne Room was completely silent: no band, no dancing pretty Twi'lek girls; nothing. That was the scary part.
"Jabba the Great, unless a man gives me good cause, I do not fear him." The terminology Lux used, calling Jabba a man, seemed to relax the Hutt, just a little.
Again there was silence, then, suddenly, "Leave us now!" shouted out the Hutt. "Never come again or your life is forfeit!" Kanan and Lux started to leave but were held back one last time by the translator droid for Jabba the Hutt. "I have this for the master of one who calls himself Ezra Bridger." Kanan then turned around, but said nothing, not wanting to provoke the Hutt. "He has been using my name for himself. There is only one Jabba the Hutt. Either you tell him to stop—or I will."
And with that dreaded ending, the duo left the Palace and made their way outside. As they did so, they could see the murderous intent on some of the faces of those milling around. They knew they had to leave as quickly as possible. As they were doing so, Lux noticed something bothering Bib Fortuna. When they got to the area which was the spacious, dark area just before the great entrance gates, thankfully a distance from the Throne room, when no one was around, Lux asked what was the matter.
"Bib," he asked, "You seem to be concerned about something. Or, perhaps, afraid of something."
"I am," Bib responded. The after a silence, "It's Jabba. There's a new streak of cruelty in him. I'm sure you felt it."
"Yes, I did feel it. A new strain of tenseness from those who are around and serve Jabba; even those just visiting. What happened?"
"It was Gardula. She betrayed him. Ever since then, the streak of this meanness has come to overtake him. Now on a whim he kills; almost as if for pleasure or to put fear into those around him. I am afraid, but I cannot leave."
"I understand Bib, you are a smart person and will come out all right from this. My wife tells me that soon, there will be a new hope arising from the despotism of the Empire."
"That wouldn't matter to Jabba. Anyway, I am a slave, I cannot leave. Even if I wanted to; even if I tried, I could not get far on this planet. I will do what I can to survive."
"And I know you can. Good luck, Bib. Maybe we can meet in happier times."
"And good luck to you, Admiral Bonteri."
Fortunately, Kanan, while Lux was examining the body, had this premonition from the Force and asked for the Phantom to stealthily come close to the Palace—hard by but undetected. And it wasn't too soon that Kanan signaled the Phantom, as both he and Lux, after the short conversation with Bib, with a sudden start, sprinted to the Phantom, driven by Hera—she was going to do what she could to get her man out of there—with Zeb protecting the back. Just as they got outside; and with a flying, Force-helped leap, they were soon safe inside the opened aft door of the small ship. And none too soon because they both and Zeb could see Boba Fett again racing out of the Palace with some comrades, to finally catch the Admiral. The Phantom very soon was out of range of Boba Fett's jet pack, so the bounty hunter gave up the chase and flew back to the Palace.
Kanan gave out a large sigh of relief as did the Admiral—as best he could through this concerned mind. They then headed quickly back to the Ghost for a fast exit from this hellhole, never to return. Even then, as they arrived at the Ghost, they could see a passel of bounty hunters start to converge on the ship, ready to catch the ripe prize; only to be held back by the two Mandos; no one in their right minds would attack those two now. The Phantom deftly docked with the Ghost, which then quickly took off, never to return to that planet until a short time after the second Death Star, and the Empire, were finally destroyed. The Admiral wanted to get to Shili as soon as possible; but there was a small, but complicated and dangerous mission—the very reason they had Asajj's lishtsabers—to accomplish beforehand. He and the crew wanted to keep their promise to someone important to them.
Meanwhile on Shili
The Stormtrooper Captain was shocked to his core. He and his remaining partner were on their way to the ship, unknowingly passing through the worst of the Akul runs. There was his lone partner was attacked, surrounded and beaten by a pair of Akuls. Terrible were these beasts, with long, sharp claws and frightening teeth. But what shocked him more was what he was seeing before his eyes. Now, before him a distance away, his partner was struggling under a giant paw holding him down. Then, horribly, an Akul, using a single claw, stripped the armor as if it were expertly shelling a crab. It knew exactly how to do it. The chestplate, the shoulder guards, the thigh guards; all were quickly detached from the struggling man and each time a protector was removed, one of the pair of the Akuls would take a bite from the struggling man, causing a yell of great pain from him. Then, finally, the helmet was deftly ripped off his head, and with one crush of the jaws into the head of the man, he stopped struggling. After doing so, the pair feasted shortly but then took the remains back to their nest. The Captain didn't move an inch all this time. Shock and fear helped with that.
Once the Akul were out of what he hoped was scent-range, he took off his own gear and threw it down the gorge. He was left in his black under suit. He knew what happened. He and his comrades had been sold short, expendable pawns in the game of war—worth less than even an ancient binary droid.
At this moment he gave up on the Empire. Any entity that could nonchalantly do what it did was not worth fighting for.
Unbeknownst to him, however, just at that moment as well, another group of life-forms were silently approaching him from behind. He didn't know they were there until he turned around—and was looking down the business end of a powerful rifle aimed right at his head, held steadily by a beautiful, blond woman with deep blue eyes and a lekku band in her hair. He then noticed he was surrounded by four other women he surmised were the Togruta race of this planet.
"What are you doing here, bucket head?" one of the Togruta women asked in perfect Basic.
"I— I don't know," he responded. He looked at the blond woman sighting him and thought it over. Was doing anything for the Empire anymore worth it? 'No,' he decided and reasoned that the women would listen to him. "After what I've seen, what I did, I no longer want to be with this Empire. You can shoot me now to end this conversation, but, know this, the Empire has just lost this soldier. I will no longer fight for the Empire."
The woman who asked the question then translated for the others. He could see that the blond girl didn't understand completely what he said by the fact that she didn't relent on the bead she had on him until the translation was finished. Afterwards, the blond said something to the Togruta woman in a language he had never heard, but all the while she still kept a narrow eye and the rifle pointed in his direction.
"She said she knows someone who can, if you are honest, help you," said the woman translating. "If you are not, you will be gutted and sent to the Akuls, but not necessarily in that order." The others laughed when the woman told them in their language what she said. The Captain, as can be imagined, was horrified after what he had just seen. "Come with us, and tell us your story," the Togruta woman said as she took his blaster.
And so he did, leaving nothing out about what had happened, telling them every detail—the shots fired at the woman, where, and what she looked like. The translator translated, the others, especially the blond girl, asked questions, but the more he said, the more concern he could see on the face of the human girl, until, before they had got very far, Zeri Bonteri, for that is who she was, felt more fear for her family than on the night the Grand Inquisitor attacked their home. Her companions, who knew her story, were fearful for her as well and showed their concern for her.
—•—
Thank you for reading this. I hope you enjoyed it.
First off, I would like to thank darksawr ("Rise of Starkiller") for the use of two OCs, Leonidas and HK; and for the go ahead for this chapter. Please go read his stories. (The reason Lux had a problem getting through to HK was that he is programmed only to respond to "cancel" in countermanding an order, according to darksawr.)
I think many people will call Jabba the Hutt very OOC in this chapter. Instead of making him the totally evil thing he is in many stories, I did something else and thought to mellow him out a little. I made him sort of a Christopher Walken-type of mafioso; you know, a gangster with a heart of gold. I have seen a story of Jabba on a different site where he conducts one evilness after another, "Tale of the Worm" or something like that I think it is called. To me, after reading that story, rather than showing the depravity of Jabba the Hutt, it showed the depravity of the mind of the writer. I sort of felt sorry for the writer after reading the first chapter. In any case, I couldn't go there and, in fact, decided to go the opposite with him here. In this story, you can see where he starts to really get bad, though—so there is some of that.
The fight between Leonidas and Boba Fett was the result of some research of the fight scene between Pre Visla and Darth Maul in "Shades of Reason." However, is Kanan a little too weak in this fight scene? (Please tell me what you think.) We've seen him fight well with a blaster and a lightsaber, but not hand-to-hand in very close quarters, as this scene is.
Let me apologize for the very long delay in the update. If you may have been reading some of my stuff, you know that I have made a version for the Togruta language for those who are not Togruta, which I called Togruta-B. Norik956 has been kind enough to mention that in the chapter just before the newest in his Tale of a Togruta story. Thank you for that. That is one of the reasons for the delay. After finishing the last chapter of this story, I saw that I needed to set the language down in digital to the best detail I could before I wrote the update for the Love Story. It then took me past the summer to finish that and then I updated the Love Story. I then got caught up in another story idea which I put on the site, Grassy Knoll (which I will probably soon take down).
But more than that, problems with work projects has tired me mentally so that I have become what I suppose is the bane of all writers: Lazy. Rather than write, I found it easier to pass my days reading some great Luxsoka stories; those from old standbys like Lux's Sister, Norik956, david . davies . 5851 (remove the spaces on either side of the periods when you do a search), Starwarshobbitfics, sniperdude351, Annie Luna (a Spanish Luxsoka, no less—reading it through Google Translate), and others, as well as some great new Luxsoka from TitaniaSarys ("Shadows of Remembrance" & "In the Gardens of the Bonteri Estate") and chawk1993 ("Goodness in Life"), sarasai ("A Meeting in the Wings"), and some others (like 5 . 56X45 if the story moves that way)—as well as some not so good stories.
In any case, I hope you do not become lazy. Like Norik956 told me, try to please make time every day to continue your writing.
For me, things have been looking better so I hope to get more writing done; and still read all those great stories from you guys. However, rather than have updates written newly each time, I am thinking about just finishing the stories so you wouldn't have to wait so long again. Thank you for staying with me this far.
Take care,
johnt
PS. I'll be posting a new short story soon after this since I wanted to get something Rebels-era before the show moves along too far. After that, I hope to post something for the Love Story where QooQoo and Makepeace, from different directions, head for the reception party.