Terrowin

Terrowin never liked coming to Nar Shadaa. Something about the smugglers moon put the 25 year old human on edge. Everyone on this moon was hiding something, nothing was ever as it seemed, and the crime rate was ridiculous. However, as a bounty hunter, that meant plenty of work for him was readily available. After all, it wasn't hard to find criminals on Nar Shadaa. All you had to do was point your blaster and shoot. In his starship, an ancient SGS-41B Comet Breaker purchased and rehabilitated for next to nothing and called Fenris, he waited for a transmission from his contractor back at the Bounty Hunter's Guild. Normally, he'd be given the information before he headed out. When it came in, the projected image of a female rodian materialized in front of him. "Hreeda," said Terrowin, "I made it to Nar Shadaa. NOW will you tell me about my acquisition?"

"Patience, Terrowin. I'm transferring everything to your datapad. You're looking for one of the instructors of Nar Shadaas Sith academy," said the rodian in near-perfect basic. Terrowin glanced down at his palm sized datapad and saw some pictures of his target. He did a double take, knowing that something was clearly wrong. The target had red skin and spikes and tendrils normally associated with…

"This is a Sith Pureblood. They're supposed to be extinct," Terrowin said as he flicked through the targets file on his datapad.

"I promise you, the information is accurate. We can argue about Sith Purebloods later. The Republic wants this one alive, so shoot to maim, not kill."

"Understood," Terrowin said with a curt nod. Terrowin shut off the comm. and headed to the hold of the Fenris to collect his gear. Terrowin was already wearing his armor, a chest piece made of Mandalorian iron paired with two shinguards and matching bracers. He'd won his armor in a game of Pazaak from a member of his own guild. Beneath his chest armor, he wore a flowing sleeveless trench coat, making for a more striking silhouette. His bracers held a special mechanism which extended a 66 centimeter vibroblade from above the wrist, allowing a distinct edge in hand to hand combat. He picked up his twin blaster pistols and holstered them to his thighs. Terrowin didn't wear a helmet, since it made him less approachable. Instead, he used a retractable visor that linked with his blaster pistols to provide targeting feedback and an ammo counter. He slung a blaster rifle to his back as a long range option.

Terrowin's rifle was a custom job. It held the power cell and all other parts associated with firing behind the trigger. There was no stock in the traditional sense, since it was a part of the weapons body. This meant that the barrel was positioned further back. The result was a weapon as long as a traditional blaster carbine with a barrel as long as a standard blaster rifle. This meant it was more accurate than a traditional carbine and had a rifle's effective range. He called it the SBR-21. He grabbed a couple of power cells for his rifle and another pair for his pistols before heading out. According to the file he received, his target was last seen at one of the local markets. He was also last seen wearing the traditional black robes of the Brotherhood of Darkness. Terrowin decided to follow that lead, having realized he had landed close to the last known location of his target.

The market was unusually crowded. By Terrowins estimates, at least three hundred sentients had gathered there from at least a dozen different species. This would make the search quite difficult as Terrowin always had issues with crowds. Never the less, he set to work, making his way first to a rodian droid merchant selling parts out of a hovering cart. "Excuse me," he said, approaching the rodian. To Terrowins surprise, the rodian merchant had a fairly limited understanding of basic.

"You big bad bounty hunter, yes? Come to my stand why?" Terrowin pulled out his datapad from a pouch on his belt and displayed the file on his target.

"Have you seen this man?" Terrowin asked. "He's wanted by the Republic. He taught at the Sith academy here."

"No one see Sith pureblood since war over two thousand years ago," the rodian explained. "No can help. Sorry. You look like man who need slicer droid. Bounty hunters get discount."

"No, thanks. I get by with computer spikes." Terrowin decided to try the weapons kiosk he spotted a few meters away. He recognized the human running it, as he purchased the parts for his custom rifle there. He carefully made his way through the crowd and approached the human female. Her blonde hair and piercing green eyes were unmistakable. Rumor had it she even carried lightsaber parts. "Heya, Nomi. How's business?" Terrowin said casually.

"Not too great since the end of the war. With the Brotherhood gone, I've got more stuff than I can move. How's bounty hunting been treating you? How's the SBR?"

"The SBR's saved my life on more than one occasion. I was wondering if you might have seen my target." Terrowin displayed the pureblood again on his datapad and showed it to Nomi. The weapons merchant paused, stroking her chin. "He doesn't come by so much anymore, but he used to quite a bit. He's the only reason I bothered carrying emitter matrixes and other stuff for lightsabers. He's probably still at the old Sith academy, but I don't really know where that is." Terrowin had known she was telling the truth. Even on Nar Shadaa, a serious merchant could be expected to honor his or her word.

"Any idea who might get me headed in the right direction?"

"I heard some guys at the cantina are trying to drum up support for an expedition to the academy."

"Republic?" Terrowin asked. Nomi shook her head.

"Salvagers. Probably looking to cash in on some Sith artifacts. You might be able to get the coordinates from them," Nomi said confidently. Terrowin pocketed his datapad back into its pouch. He reached for another pouch and produced a pair of hundred-credit chips.

"For your troubles," Terrowin said, handing the credits to Nomi before heading on his way to the nearest cantina. It was only half a kilometer away and to Terrowins surprise, it was mostly empty. Only a handful of humans and the Trandoshan bouncer graced the inside. Terrowin saw most of the patrons clustered around a pair of ratty looking scavengers dressed in rags.

"We're telling you all that people pay good money for Sith artifacts. This is a huge opportunity. Who's with us?" Terrowin made his way into the handful who were listening to the scavengers.

"You guys look like you could use some hired muscle. I hear those academies had all sorts of booby traps to keep out intruders."

"You want the job, it's yours. Anyone else?" said the scavengers. Terrowin wasn't surprised to see that nobody else volunteered. He couldn't blame them. Raiding a Sith academy was a moot endeavor. Sith artifacts are notoriously hard to sell in Republic space, given that only a handful of Sith fetishists could afford the exorbitant sums charged for such things. And in a best case scenario, you could be sitting on said artifacts for months or even years before someone called up willing to buy. The scavengers approached Terrowin and handed him a datacard containing the location of the academy. "We leave in 12 hours. Be ready by then." The scavengers left the cantina and Terrowin swiftly pulled out his datapad and inserted the card. He left as soon as the coordinates had been copied and decided to show up early, hoping to make sure his acquisition didn't have the chance to flee.

He had no intention of helping the scavengers. For all his visits to Nar Shadaa and other outer rim worlds, Terrowin liked to consider himself a law abiding citizen of the Republic. He decided he would leave the scavengers to their own devices. Academies never really had booby traps, and the scavengers would likely find nothing of value this far from Korriban. Terrowin made his way back to the Fenris and decided to head immediately to the old academy. He climbed into the cockpit and took off, entering the academy coordinates into his navicomputer. In little time, he was a kilometer away from the Academy. Unlike most Sith academies, the one on Nar Shadaa was melded almost perfectly with the surrounding buildings. Terrowin managed to find the landing pad and set the Fenris down in front of the entrance.

Terrowin never considered himself to be Force-sensitive, but even he could feel that something was off about this place. He left the cockpit of the Fenris and stood before the door. It was locked tight, but it was rare for that to keep Terrowin from an acquisition. He pulled a security spike from a special pouch on his belt and jammed it into the interface port. It overloaded with a shower of sparks and the door opened revealing the hallway that lead into the academy proper. Terrowin brought his rifle to bare and entered. He switched on the attached torch to illuminate his path. He finally made it to the main hall and found nobody home. He closed his eyes and listened to the sounds around him. He heard footsteps, hard and heavy, and followed them to the source.

Setting his rifle to stun, he entered what he guessed were the kitchen and saw his target, a bald sith pureblood male with piercing yellow eyes. He lined up his rifle while the pureblood was distracted and fired. In a split second, the pureblood drew his lightsaber into his left hand and swatted the stun bolt harmlessly aside. Terrowin kept up the barrage and each bolt was deflected. He slung the rifle to his back and extended his wrist-mounted vibroblades as the pureblood closed into melee range. Terrowin was no jedi, but he had trained under Mandalorian blade masters. Terrowin put up a brilliant defense. His opponent was using the fifth form of lightsaber combat, Djem-so. The purebloods power attacks were nearly unstoppable, but Terrowins vibroblades had a cortosis weave to make his defense possible.

Terrowin knew enough about lightsaber combat to understand each form's various weaknesses. Eventually, the pureblood would tire out. The pureblood reached out with the force, shoving Terrowin against a nearby wall. As the pureblood charged forward, Terrowin fell from the wall and rolled out of the way. The pureblood got his lightsaber stuck in the wall and Terrowin took the opportunity to draw his blaster pistols and deliver two bolts to the purebloods back. The pureblood groaned and tensed up as the energy from the stun bolts racked his body. The pureblood fell to the floor with an audible thud, his lightsaber still in the wall. Terrowin holstered his pistols and retracted his blades before approaching the stunned Pureblood. He secured his targets arms behind his back with a pair of stun cuffs and placed a neural restraint on the purebloods head to cut off his access to the force.

Terrowin grabbed the lightsaber hilt and extinguished the blade. In one swift motion, he pocketed the lightsaber and grabbed his acquisition. Slung over the bounty hunters shoulder, the pureblood was helpless. Terrowin carried his acquisition back to the Fenris and sat him down in the cargo hold. Terrowin hopped into the cockpit and started the take-off procedure. Once in the air, he reached out to his guild contractor. The little hologram came up as Terrowin climbed up to the upper atmosphere. "Hreeda, I have the acquisition. Where can I drop this one off?"

"The Republic has a detention center on Taris you can take him to. It's a penal colony, so don't overstay your welcome. I'll let them know you're coming."

"You're the best, Hreeda." Terrowin shut off the comm. and began to plot the hyperspace jump to Taris. Over two millennia ago, the Sith empire reduced Taris nearly to rubble. What was once the Coruscant of the Outer Rim territories was a wasteland. During the cold war that took place centuries after the Jedi Civil War, Taris had been mostly restored by the Republic. Its vast cities were never the same and much more of the planet had been reclaimed by nature. Terrowin jumped to hyperspace and after a couple of days, arrived just outside Taris's orbit. Terrowin plotted out the approach to the penal colony and let the autopilot take him there. The Fenris touched down gently on the landing pad and Terrowin dragged his acquisition out to the guards that came to meet him. "As promised," Terrowin said. "One former instructor of the Nar Shadaa Sith academy."

Terrowin handed off his acquisition to the guards. The pureblood didn't even bother trying to put up a fight. He was cut off from the force, his lightsaber was in Terrowins hands and without it, he was at the mercy of several highly trained republic snipers. Even if he escaped, he stood a decent chance of getting eaten alive by rackghouls, nexus, and other wildlife. "Very well, then," said one of the guards. "Follow us to administration and we'll get you paid." Terrowin fell in step with the prison guards as he was lead to the front desk. His gaze was met by a human woman.

"I've got a bounty I'd like to claim," Terrowin said professionally. The Guild prided itself on efficiency and professionalism. That reputation was up to every Guild hunter to maintain in the public eye.

"Let's see, the instructor from Nar Shadaa?" asked the woman. Terrowin merely nodded. "I'll have that transferred to the Guild right away." The woman tapped away at the holographic interface and a few minutes later, Terrowins datapad alerted him to the credits being transferred to him from the Guild. All guild members were entitled to a sizeable chunk of any bounties, but the Guild required a certain percentage. This was in addition to any dues paid annually by licensed Guild hunters. Terrowin received eighty percent of every bounty he claimed. Forty-thousand credits were transferred to his account.

"Thank you. The Bounty Hunters Guild appreciates your business," Terrowin said with a sharp salute.

"And the Republic appreciates your professionalism." Terrowin turned and left, slipping his datapad back into its pouch and made his way back to the Fenris. Before taking off, he called up Hreeda one more time.

"Hreeda, I need to head to Coruscant. Are there any assignments for me?"

"Not at the moment. That could change in a week or so. I'll let you know if there is anything that suits your skillset," the rodian said.

"I'll need an audience with the Council of First Knowledge. Can you arrange that?"

"I'll try. Just once I'd like you to make things easy for me." Terrowin shut off the comm. and took off, leaving Taris behind. He plotted out a hyperspace route to Coruscant and arrived in a matter of days. As he descended Coruscants into atmosphere, Hreeda came up on the comm. "The council has agreed to meet with you. Well, at least Master Obba has. Head for the temple hangar and he'll meet you there."

"Thanks Hreeda. Terrowin out." Terrowin made a delicate approach to the Jedi Temple, landing the Fenris inside the hangar bay. As he climbed out of the cockpit, leaving his weapons inside, he was met by an ithorian clad in the robes of the jedi order. "Master Obba, I presume."

"Very astute," master Obba said in near perfect basic. Terrowin didn't have issue with Obbas accent, as he has dealt in the past with basic-speaking ithorians. "It is rare that I meet with one such as yourself. Tell me, why you have called this meeting. I am eager to know."

"I think I have some information you will find most interesting. I think I found the exact location of Nar Shadaas Sith academy," Terrowin explained.

"Normally, a bounty hunter would have a price for this information. What is yours?"

"I don't have one. I've heard what the Sith did on Ruusan. I can't very well leave that knowledge for the scavengers can I?"

"A fair point. And a surprising sense of honor. Please come with me so I can have this location committed to the archives." Terrowin followed Master Obba to the archives and was taken aback by the sheer scale once he crossed into the main chamber. He spotted a few youglings sitting in on a history lesson and a selkath leading a shistavanen around. Master Obba seemed to notice Terrowins most recent observation. "Sirul and Shala. Sirul was once a member of Kaan's Brotherhood of Darkness. He came to us seeking redemption and he was admitted as a padawan." Terrowin reached into a pocket and pulled out the datacard containing the location of the Sith academy.

"Here you go," Terrowin said handing over the datacard. Obba took it in hand and proceeded to have it catalouged.

"You may leave at any moment, bounty hunter. Your work here is finished. Feel free to browse the archives if you wish." Terrowin faced the ithorian with a polite bow.

"I appreciate the offer, Master Obba. But I must be going. The work of a bounty hunter is never done."

"Then go with confidence, Terrowin Seneca. And may the Force be with you." Said Master Obba.

"And with you as well, Master Obba." Terrowin left the Archives and returned to his gunship. Climbing into the cockpit, he left the temple behind to return to the Guild. Many of the newer hunters would be eager to hear how he bested a dark lord of the Sith and lived to tell the tale. Terrowin knew there wouldn't be much to tell. Regardless, details would be exaggerated as more and more people heard the tale and passed it on. Terrowin smiled to himself as he left Coruscants orbit. This had been a pretty good week for Terrowin and he was eager for some R&R.