The Story of forgotten Jedi Owen Sun
Chapter 44: One Last Mission
It was now two years into the Clone War and little had changed, the Republic and Separatists still continued their fight galaxy wide with no end in sight.
Fortunately for Owen Sun he was spared exile and imprisonment receiving more or less a slap on the wrist from the council for defying them and returning to his homeworld to wage war. But even after losing his chance to become a Jedi Master Owen had no regrets, he had confronted and faced many demons from his past and was now stronger because of it.
He took solace in the fact that he had left Solar content and more importantly with closure.
So with his Jedi mind and spirit at ease once again over the last several months he had begun to try and earn another opportunity at the rank of Master. Taking odd jobs for the council, participating in numerous battles in the Clone War, really just doing whatever he could to get another crack at the title.
Slowly but surely it was working, with the results Owen was producing the Jedi Council once again began to remember why they considered him for the prestigious rank.
Owen already had the tools to become a Master, his prominent wisdom and remarkable mastery of the force evidence of this. But despite his impressive skills the council continued to patiently wait and see how Owen would handle himself after his defiance several months ago before bestowing the heavy weight of being a Jedi Master upon his shoulders.
So with Owen completely unaware the council would send him on one last mission to the dark moon of Nar Shaddaa to prove his final worth.
Somewhere in the Y'Toub system.
Owens Jedi Starfighter careened through the vastness of space as he neared the smugglers moon.
The council had purposely told Owen very little about the mission in hopes he would uncover and solve the plot himself. All Owen knew was that a number of refugees had gone missing on the dark moon and he was to get to the bottom of it. As a result of the devastating Clone War various planets galaxy wide had been nearly inhospitable forcing their inhabitants to search for homes and work elsewhere, that's how many refugees ended up on the smugglers moon.
Nar Shaddaa was a criminal metropia covered with kilometer high buildings much like Coruscant, a haven for thugs, smugglers, bounty hunters, and thief's it had nothing in the way of authority. What you'd normally get arrested for on any Republic world was an every day occurrence on the smugglers moon. It also contained many slums and refugee camps with most hopelessly lost in a desperate every day struggle.
Arriving at the gray metropolis orb that was Nar Shaddaa Owen knew it had been too long since he had set foot on the criminalistic moon. Ignoring the Hutt fungus that was Nal Hutta he brought his ship into the most corrupt sector of the smugglers moon, despite his long absence Owen had been to Nar Shaddaa a number of times before. He used to make trips here regularly getting invaluable information from one of his contacts in the criminal underworld, a Chiss by the name of Lezel Kex.
Kex ran a sleazy cantina in the heart of the sector, Owen would head there first to see what he could find.
Meanwhile in Kex's Cantina.
The busy cantina teemed with life with all kinds of different species…a handful of Weequays gambling in the corner, a drunken Rodian and Gran scrapping over some credits, and even a live Bith band playing in the back as the cantinas Twi'lek dancers boogied the night away.
Finally the cantinas bartender spoke up. "Hey you two, take it outside…no fighting in Kex's Cantina"
As the two drunks left Owen Sun stepped through the doors, although most went about their business they never took their eyes off the long blond haired Jedi Knight.
Walking by an uneasy Iridonian bounty hunter and a quiet little Jawa Owen approached the Aqualish bartender. "I'm looking for Kex" began Owen.
"Kex don't know anybody like you Jedi" replied the Aqualish bartender in his alien tongue.
"Why don't you just tell him anyway" countered Owen.
"Why don't you go space yourself!" shot back the Aqualish.
Owen didn't bother getting upset resorting to his Jedi nature. "You will go tell Kex that a Jedi is here to see him" he persuaded with a wave of his hand.
"Sounds like a good enough reason, okay I'll be right back" responded the weak minded Aqualish.
While waiting Owen took a seat at the bar downing a cup of juma juice, then catching him a bit off guard one of the waitresses a blue Twi'lek female took a seat in his lap. "What's a handsome guy like you doing in here?" she asked wrapping her arms around his neck.
"(Ahem) Excuse me Miss, if you don't mind" replied Owen uninterested.
She got up off him. "Have it your way handsome"
"Not much of a ladies man are you" implied Kex surprising him.
"Kex" replied Owen.
Owen and Kex weren't exactly friends, more so acquaintances…
"I didn't believe Arjar when he told me a Jedi was here to see me, it's been a long time, you look…different" greeted the blue skinned Kex.
"Nice to see you haven't lost your sense of humor Kex" Owen replied.
"So what brings you back to the smugglers moon?" wondered the cantina owner Lezel Kex.
"I've been sent here to investigate about the refugees that have gone missing lately" explained Owen.
"Oh yeah I heard about some rumblings in the refugee camps, sad bit of business that" replied Kex.
"Do you know anything about it?" asked Owen probing him.
"Other than what I just told, no…I don't" answered Kex.
Owen could sense he wasn't telling him the truth. "Really"
"Listen I know what you're thinking but I don't know anything" defended Kex unfazed.
Owen decided he'd use his intellect to solve this problem. "You know Kex we go back a long ways…remember when I saved you from the Hutts"
"Yeah, yeah I remember…I'd probably be compost right now if it wasn't for you" remembered Kex.
"Then you can understand why I'd be upset if you were lying to me" replied Owen.
"Look (sigh) it's just…I could get in a lot of trouble right now, there's a lot of heat on this sector" revealed Kex.
"I mean who knows what they'd do?" he added concerned.
"Who's they?" wondered Owen looking firmly into his red glowing Chiss eyes.
"I…I can't tell you, I'm sorry…I just can't" replied Kex afraid for his safety.
Owen leaned in closer at the bar. "Kex despite your best efforts to keep me in the dark I know what goes on here, and I'm not talking about your illegal gambling parlor over there I'm taking about things much more dangerous…smuggling, extortion, bribery…these things could shut this place down and put you away for a long, long time" stated Owen trying to keep his words private.
"You wouldn't, this place is my life!" responded Kex.
"I'd hate to do it Kex, especially after all the help you've given me over the years…but our camaraderie means nothing when pitted against my duty as a Jedi" pointed out Owen.
"Now tell me what I wanna know" demanded Owen.
"Alright…alright, I may get skinned for this but if you can shut them down I guess that's all that matters" agreed Kex.
"First things first, who's them?" asked Owen.
"Who else…the Exchange" revealed Lezel Kex.
Owen shook his head. "I had a feeling"
The Exchange was an intergalactic crime syndicate that Owen had run into several times before in his travels of the galaxy.
"Normally the Exchange run mostly everything on Nar Shaddaa but they had never gotten involved with the refugees before…they've made a deal with someone very powerful and have started kidnapping all the refugees" informed Kex.
"What are they going to do with them?" wondered Owen.
"I don't know maybe sell them into slavery?" pondered Kex.
"The slave market is quite profitable nowadays" he added.
"Who did they make this deal with?" questioned Owen.
"I'm not sure, somebody high up on the chain of crime maybe" informed Kex.
Owen sensed another lie. "Don't lie to me Kex"
"Okay, okay you caught me…he's a Hutt, way up on the intergalactic crime scheme" revealed Kex.
"What's his name?" questioned Owen.
"I don't know…and I am telling you the truth this time" pleaded Kex.
Owen could sense he wasn't lying. "Alright…where do you think I should start looking?"
"I couldn't tell ya, who knows were their hiding them…my guess is most of the refugees have been shipped off-planet already" answered Kex.
"But if I were you I'd keep my eye on Baul over there, he works as muscle for the Exchange" relayed Kex.
"The Devaronian?" questioned Owen.
"Yeah that's him" replied the cantina owner Lezel Kex.
Owen noticed Baul get up to leave. "I better go before I lose him"
"One last thing, the Exchange boss for this sector is carrying out the deal with the mystery Hutt, he's a Duros named Aandar, just thought you should know" informed Kex.
"Thanks again Kex" thanked Owen.
"Just be sure to take care of all this or I won't have much of a bar left" stated Kex referring to the Exchange backlash.
Owen quickly left the cantina and began stealthy following the Devaronian throughout the sector. After much time of scrabbling across rooftops and alleyways trying to keep up with him Baul had stopped at the docks, Owen caught his breath wondering what the Devaronian was doing here. "This makes no sense, what's he doing at the docks?" he thought.
Owen needed to know what was going on, so after jumping down off the rooftop he stealthily subdued Baul to get some answers. "WHOA WHAT THE…" cried Baul.
Making sure nobody saw him Owen pulled the Devaronian behind some crates. "I want some answers!" demanded Owen knowing that physical violence was the only way to get through to Exchange thugs.
"I'm not telling you a thing Jedi" spat back Baul in basic.
Owen quietly ignited his yellow blade. "Tell me where the missing refugees are!" he commanded holding his saber to Baul's throat.
Baul could see that this Jedi wasn't playing around. "Now!" demanded Owen.
"A…All I know is where a small group is being stored" disclosed Baul.
"Where!" demanded Owen once more.
"Here a…at the docks, crate number 416" revealed Baul.
"But it won't do you any good Jedi, the Exchange runs everything here on Nar Shaddaa…your fighting a losing battle" he added.
"You let me worry about that" replied Owen.
With a swift thud Owen knocked out the Devaronian with the butt of his lightsaber.
Making his way over to docking storage he quickly discovered the crate under guard by two Trandoshans, not wanting to draw attention to himself Owen simply force pushed both Exchange thugs into the crate incapacitating them. Stepping over their reptilian bodies he sliced open the lock on the crate with his lightsaber.
Opening it up Owen discovered a large group of refugees huddled together, squinting from the sudden rush of light they began to pile out. "Thank you, thank you…you saved us" greeted the refugee man.
"Those thugs locked us in here, we'd been trapped for days" added his wife.
"Are there any more?" asked Owen.
"No, we were the first to be brought here…we'd previously been held captive in the Exchange Base" explained the refugee man.
"You've got to go rescue them Jedi, the Exchange will sell them into slavery if you don't" pleaded his wife.
"She's right, the rest are being held prisoner on the other side of the sector in the Exchange Base" informed the refugee man.
"Don't worry I'll take care of it, you all better leave now before more of them show up" stated Owen.
"We will, thank you Jedi" thanked the refugee man as the large group dispersed.
Owen quickly left the docks for the Exchange Base on the other side of the sector.
Arriving soon after Owen climbed up on the rooftop to see what was going on inside the heavily fortified Exchange Base.
Inside the Exchange Base.
The Duros Exchange boss Aandar walked through the hall with his Jin'Ha bodyguards in suit when suddenly several of his thugs ran up to deliver some startling news. "Boss…(catches breath)…we've got some bad news" informed the Rodian thug.
"What is it?" Aandar asked in his alien tongue.
"The crate that we were supposed to deliver is empty, the refugees we captured are gone" informed the Rodian thug.
"But it was under guard, what happened?" questioned Aandar.
"The guards were passed out when we got there, someone must have set them loose" explained the Rodian thug.
"I don't care how long it takes I want those refugees found!" ordered Aandar.
"Yes boss, right away" obeyed the Rodian thug.
Flailing his robe behind him the Duros Exchange boss retreated to his quarters as his thugs departed. "Come on boys" signaled the Rodian thug to the other three.
But before either party could leave Owen smashed through the glass ceiling landing right in-between them both. "You must be Aandar" implied Owen igniting his saber.
"It's a Jedi, kill him!" ordered Aandar.
Owen made short work of the ill trained Exchange thugs cutting each one down without breaking a sweat, buying him enough time however Aandar quickly retreated to his chambers with his Jin'Ha bodyguards.
Owen immediately chased after him taking out several more Exchange thugs along the way, but just as he arrived the massive doors snapped shut on him.
Inside the chambers Aandar got every Exchange thug he had at his disposal and waited for the Jedi to enter, as Owens lightsaber suddenly plunged through the doors the thugs raised their blasters preparing themselves for the Jedi.
As the lightsaber finished its way around forming a burnt hole in the doors Owen thrusted the massive metal hole forward taking out a few unlucky Exchange thugs in the process. Leaping through the new opening Owen dodged the heavy blaster fire and in short time had killed the rest of Aandars thugs, impaling one last Gran and taking the head of a Twi'lek Owen went after an escaping Aandar.
Impeding his pursuit however several small turret guns sprouted from the floor and walls, Owen dodged the heavy laser fire with his lightsaber then tossed his saber towards the turrets. As his lightsaber made its way around all eight turrets were destroyed.
Going after Aandar Owen got lost and found himself in a dank cellar beneath the base, as he soon discovered it was a large holding cell for all the kidnapped refugees. Making his way inside Owen was horrified to discover that all the refugees had been murdered.
Blaster wounds covered their corpses as whoever shot them made sure that they were dead, despite the many deaths Owen could feel a small trace of life coming from the corner deeper in the cell. Moving a few corpses out of the way he discovered a small female child huddled amongst many of the dead bodies, obviously hiding to avoid her own demise. "Are you okay?" asked Owen bending down.
"Who are you?" the little girl asked right back.
"I'm a Jedi and I'm here to help" answered Owen.
"Are you injured?" wondered Owen.
"No, I'm fine" replied the young girl.
Owen was amazed that the young girl wasn't hurt, even more amazed that she didn't seem frightened.
Suddenly shaking him to his core he realized why, Owen could feel the force very strongly in the young girl…it was almost streaming off her.
After a long standing pause of evaluation Owen asked a pertinent question. "Where are your parents?" he wondered hoping that they weren't amongst the dead on the ground.
"I never had any parents" she answered.
"An orphan, I should have known" thought Owen.
"Is it okay to go now?" she asked.
Snapping him out of his new discovery Owen remembered what needed to be done. "No, not yet" replied Owen.
"I want you to stay here and wait for me to come back" relayed Owen.
"Okay?" he advised.
"Okay" the young girl promised.
Owen speedily made his way back up into the base, searching through the force he felt he could still catch Aandar.
A few minutes later on the Exchange Base rooftop.
"Where is that blasted shuttle?" wondered Aandar growing impatient waiting.
Suddenly from behind Owen leapt up onto the roof, wasting no time Aandars Jin'Ha bodyguards opened fire. He deflected the blaster shots back towards them and in the process reached out with the force and pulled their weapons away from them, the first bodyguard wasn't quick enough to react as Owen cut him in two but the second had just enough time to pull out his cortosis sword, a rare find in the galaxy.
The two dueled for a short time but the Jin'Ha was no match for Owen as he sliced off his hand and took the final bodyguards head. The Duros Exchange boss cowered in the corner defenseless as Owen approached. "Why did you kill those refugees?" wondered Owen wanting to know why he would order such a heartless thing.
"I had no choice, that slimy Hutt wouldn't buy them all" explained the Exchange boss.
"You could have let them go" stated Owen.
"Sorry Jedi, in my line of work I couldn't risk it" replied the callous Aandar.
"What's the name of the Hutt you and your Exchange friends made a deal with?" asked Owen.
Aandar saw no problem telling the Jedi about the slick Hutt that cheated him. "You really wanna know, alright…his names Jabba…Jabba the Hutt"
"Never heard of him" replied Owen making sure to remember that name.
Owen was sickened by the merciless Exchange boss, he didn't see a problem showing him the same mercy he'd shown the refugees. Owen brought his blade to Aandars throat ready to end him. "Hey wait, you're a Jedi, y…you can't just kill me, I'm defenseless…I give up" pleaded Aandar.
As much as he loathed the Duros Exchange boss he was right, Owen couldn't just kill him…it was against everything the Jedi stood for, he withdrew his saber. "On behalf of the Jedi Order you are under arrest" stated Owen.
But all that did was buy Aandar enough time to reach for his blaster as he went to shoot him in the back, instinctively however Owen ignited his saber again and thrusted it straight through the Exchange bosses chest, Aandar had gotten his justice…
"That was close" said Owen staring down at Aandars lifeless body.
In any case Owen had done what was asked and completed his mission on the smugglers moon.
He immediately made his way back to the holding cell where the little girl touched with the force still waited. Owen picked up the small girl and carried her out of the cell.
"Where are we going?" asked the little girl.
"Home" he simply said.