"We'll go to the front—and beyond it, if it'll save the galaxy. Sometimes you have to enter the darkness to save the light."
-Alek (3,964 BBY)
Star Wars: The Most Dangerous Game
Chapter Nine – All Quiet on Taris
It had been a long night, but now dawn was creeping through Taris once more, catching on millions of shattered windows that glittered there in the dust. It reminded Shae of how the sunlight moved over the brilliant waters of Lake Yinta back home. Always changing. Always perpetuating.
Shae had to shield her eyes as she looked back and forth across the landscape, trying to pick out where the Jedi and his hired mercs had parked their ships before beginning their hunt. The hunt that had just ended so badly for all of them. They couldn't have landed too far away. She had only begun noticing their presence a few hours after her crash landing in the escape pod, so even if she couldn't see the ships, they were certainly within walking distance.
She was finally going to get off this world.
Satisfied the ships weren't to the west, she walked across the Sky Lounge of the Starwell Hotel and stepped out onto the eastern balcony. The view was more open here, with fewer buildings to get in the way, but less satisfying. There were passenger speeders and cargo ships jutting out of the rubble like the crags of Ord Mantell. It was a macabre sight that got even worse as the sun climbed higher.
Plenty of broken ships, but no sign of the ones she needed.
She strode back into the Sky Lounge...
Only to find the Jedi standing there, bracing himself against a dining table. His olive skin was crosshatched with wounds from the stairwell creatures and his robes were little more than tatters, soaked through with blood. His face showed exhaustion, defeat—pain. And in his hands: the lightsaber.
"I am the last one standing, Shae." His breathing was labored, blood dripped from his lips. "Now, do you understand why I sought to destroy you?"
Shae unholstered her twin pistols. "I understand... that a lot of this could've been avoided."
A smile attempted to make its way onto the Jedi's lips. "Perhaps," he said. "You must believe me when I say that I never wanted this to happen. It was all that I was trying to avoid." He stood and walked under his own power. "It was all that I was trying to kill you to avoid."
"Why?" Shae didn't give any ground. "Why me? Why do you want me dead? What could I have possibly done!"
"It was never about what you did," he explained calmly. "It was always about what you would do."
"Would you stop talking in riddles." Her grip on her pistols tightened. "A Jedi killed my parents when the Republic invaded Vulta, and all I got in return were riddles about fate, destiny, and the Living Force from the one who cut them down. You can imagine how sick I am of hearing it."
A feeling of dread swept over Shae as the Jedi's look of calm disintegrated. She felt it like a hand was gripping her heart.
"Apocalypse is coming to Coruscant, Shae Vizla," said the Jedi. "I have seen it through the Force. Destruction will rain down from the sky, just as it did over Taris all those years ago. Towers will be set ablaze, millions will die... and the Jedi Order will fall." He wasn't far now. Close enough that she could see the anger in his eyes. "And you, Mandalorian, will be the one to bring it all to bear upon us."
Shae could only laugh. "I have no interest in your war, Jedi," she told him. "I have no interest in which side Mandalore and the rest of the clans support. I was born a Mandalorian, but I hold no allegiance to anyone. The credits are all I care about, and credits are what I have plenty of right now. So, where does that leave your little vision?"
"In motion," came the Jedi's reply. "Do you believe you can stop me? Do you believe you can kill me?"
"I'll tell you what I've told a dozen other marks who thought I wouldn't follow through. Some women are born artists. Some are born queens, some prostitutes. As for me, Jedi—my hand was made for the trigger." Her gaze turned feral. "I was born to kill you."
The Jedi continued walking toward Shae. "Then you must do what you were born to do." He ignited his lightsaber, unsteady on his feet.
"Just give up, Jedi! Just let it go!"
"I will not stop in my mission, Shae. I have broken the Code of the Jedi Order, thus I have no home to return to." He held up a bloodied arm. "I have been attacked by a rakghoul and infected with their plague, and will thus become one unless I am killed with my humanity still intact." He was nearly upon her. "And I have seen what you will do, thus I will try and kill you, even though I haven't the power. I will die defending the Republic."
"Have it your way." Shae fired a shot, but the Jedi brushed it aside.
"Belief, Shae. Belief is what will light the fire in your heart." He deflected another bolt. "Belief in wealth is a trap for the ignorant. Whatever guiding star you finally decide to follow will bring pain and suffering to billions. You tell me to let go, but it is you—"
The Jedi swung to wide and the bolt tore through his chest. He tried to continue walking, but fell to his knees. Looking up from his wound, he would've seen the sun rising behind Shae as she held her weapons in his direction. Something he saw brought terror to his eyes. Fear overcame him, and the Jedi sat trembling as he died. "This, I have seen... This is how it begins..." he lamented. "This... my doing... my failure..." He looked up at Shae, tears streaming down his face. "This... is how the world dies..."
Without a word, Shae pressed the barrel of her gun flush against the Jedi's forehead and fired a single shot. Then she reached over and picked up the Jedi's lightsaber from the ground. She turned it over in her hand, inspecting the markings, it's weight, and stuffed it into her pack.
After all, the hologram of Jaq Rand would say often, what's a Hunter without their trophies?