"All that talk of hatred, manipulation, and standing on your own two feet—sorry, you don't get any more Sith than that" ― Atton Rand
Sith Gothic 2
Part 6
The Handmaiden sat on her mat within the cargo hold of the star ship, which she had learned was named The Ebon Hawk shortly after he mistress had ordered her acquire the space craft.
Later Atris had sent her away to join up with a Sith Lord, to follow him as one of his companions, and to learn what he had planned. She did not know why her mistress had ordered this, and she was rather uneasy about that whole thing.
She did not trust some of the other companions aboard the vessel, most of which she found unsavoury. The Handmaiden was not fond of the old woman, Kreia, who took to lecturing when asked a simple question, but would otherwise remain in her room to meditate.
Nor did the Handmaiden trust the pilot of the ship, Atton Rand. He was not only annoying, he was lazy, arrogant, and generally a waste of a person as far as the Handmaiden was concerned.
The thoughts of the Handmaiden then turned to the Sith Lord. He was odd, not all what she had been expecting. She'd always thought the Sith to be evil, but Gothic was proving to be more complex than that.
He had requested to spar with her in the traditional ways of the Echani, apparently unaware of their ways of combat. She agreed to humour him, if nothing else, and additionally because she wished the opportunity to see him with his truest expression, a part of the sparring that he did not need to know about just yet.
She did not know what to think of her discoveries. He was a talented fighter, he had defeated her without much difficulty, and ever since she had disgraced herself by being thrown to the ground, she had resolved to beat him when they next duelled.
However he'd not won because he was talented, she'd been distracted by him in a way she had never been distracted before. Sometimes the thought of him stopped all of her other thoughts so that her mind could picture only him. It was a foreign feeling that the Handmaiden did not how to deal with .
The Sith Lord exuded a strange aura of sorts, a strength that she could not describe, but she was going to find out.
(Line Break)
I could feel the sweat on my face as I struggled to keep all three datapads in the air. Spending so long trying to make them defy gravity was a chore. I still had two minutes to go before the exercise was over. Of all the lessons Kreia taught me, this one was by far the most difficult.
Actually floating the datapads around wasn't really the hard part, it was doing that while trying to ignore the distractions. That was the real training, and it changed every time. Someone Kreia made the room too hot, or too cold, at other times she made me miss a meal and then left a cooked dinner in the room so that smell of the food would be a distraction. Today she'd made me put on a itchy top. Which might not seem like a big deal, but it was.
After hearing the timer go off I was finally allowed to drop the datapads. Or rather, I let land them land softly on the ground. They were after all my datapads and I had some good novels stored on them.
"You did better than yesterday," Kreia commented "You were less distracted".
Ignoring the itchy feeling had not been easy.
"Why do you think I make you struggle with these repetitive exercises day after day?" my teacher asked.
I thought for a second, and finally settled on an honest reply.
"Really I don't know," was my reply "To strengthen my powers, I guess."
Kreia laughed harshly. I'd never heard her laugh, it wasn't pleasant.
"That is a mistake I made for nearly my entire life: being concerned with power. If all you care about strength or power, then life becomes empty" she said.
She paused for a minute, as if searching for the right words.
"You know that I have taught others before you, Gothic" she said.
This I knew, and I nodded to signal that I knew.
"Have you ever wondered how powerful they were?" Kreia asked.
Well I knew how powerful Revan had been.
"Do not fall into the trap of comparing yourself to former students" she warned "You are young, extremely powerful for your age, and you are making good progress. But do not measure yourself against others".
This seemed very important to her, but I had no idea why. Then again I rarely understood anything about the sith witch, and it seemed best for my sanity not to try.
(Line Break)
Visas was trembling a little, she was cold. She shifted a little, trying to get a little more comfortable on the smooth steel floor. After this long, she was used to such hardships, but she still felt the cold creeping into her skin. She ignored it. It would never change, and she was stronger now. Nihilus had trained her well in the ways of endurance.
Come.
She'd started to move almost before the voice of her master had spoken into her mind.
I want you to see.
She knew the way, though she was blind. Once she had entered the bridge she walked up to her Master and then bowed.
Reach out for me. Sense the presence.
Visas did so, remaining bowed before him, stretching her mind out, fighting to see past her Masters' overwhelming hunger.
She felt something, far away, and she focused her Force Sense. It focused on someone. It was a man, strong in the Force. Human, yet different from the others, and so much power.
I will provide you with a ship. You will bring this Sith to me.
"Why?" Visas wished to know.
Because I have commanded it.
Visas remained bowed.
"Yes Master" she said, failing to fully hide the excitement in her voice, she was going to get away from him after all this time "My life for yours".
Go now.
And she did.
(Line Break)
Atton had brought up the planet and its moon on the holotank.
"There you have it people. Nar Shaddaa" he said "The gaping maw of Nal Hutta, everyone and everything that travels through half of known space comes through here first. It's home to mercenaries, refugees, and the biggest criminal syndicates in the Galaxy. If you want it, you can get it here".
Somehow I didn't think I'd be able to buy a way to defeat the other Sith. Although if I could get that somewhere it would be here.
"Nar Shaddaa is a great place to get lost in, though" Atton commented. "Traffic in and out is so thick that a ship can slip in and out unnoticed if they do it right. And if we're looking for a place to hide I'd say it's here. We can hide in The Refugee Sector".
"The refugee sector?" the Handmaiden asked.
I would have thought the name would explain what it was.
"Yeah, a lot of people were displaced by the wars. Some couldn't get to somewhere decent, and they ended up here" Rand explained.
I actually felt sorry for them.
"Sounds like you've been here before." I commented.
"Anyone who's been on the wrong side of the law at one point or another has been here. Along with every spacer who has ever worked more than a year" Rand said with a shrug "Once we're on the ground, no one will spot us, that I can guarantee it".
Well it would be good to hide out for a while. I still had training to do and we were short of weapons, making money to pay for those weapons shouldn't be too hard.
"Then take us down" I ordered.
(Line Break)
The top bounty hunters in the galaxy were here because only they were considered important enough by Goto to need personal attention.
By far largest group was the Zhug brothers, a group of Duros bounty hunters led by Azanti and Dezanti Zhug, consisting of hundreds of individuals bound together by their shared cause, which was taking control the planet Duro. This 'family' as they considered themselves, was cast out from the Duro after committing violent acts against a politically-connected rival family. After settling on the moon Nar Shaddaa, the Zhug brothers started earning credits by collecting bounties. They plotted to eventually take over their former home world of Duro.
The HK 50s, were here too. Who had built them, and why they had started working as Bounty Hunters was unclear.
Zora and Kaliea, the Twi-lek pair nicknamed the Twin suns lounged languorously as they waited for Goto to start the meeting.
Finally Hanharr, the wookiee. Even among his kind Hanharr was a fearsomely strong He wore slave bracelets, a fashion statement that no one in his right mind questioned. After all, he might rip off the top of your head to see if he could find what suicidal impulse caused you to ask in the first place.
Before long a black spherical droid floated in, passed them by and turned. Then a hologram appeared, it was the image of an older human. This was Goto, one of the most feared of the Exchange's leaders.
"It has come to my attention that a person of great interest is approaching Nar Shaddaa, even as we speak" the hologram said.
There was an increase of tension in the room
"However while you may think that he is Jedi, I assure you that he is not, this human is known as Darth Gothic" Goto informed everyone "And towards the closing of the Jedi Civil war he served as an apprentice to Darth Malak, he is one of the most dangerous men in the entire galaxy".
The Bounty Hunters traded looks with each other.
"While the Sith Lord walks the streets of Nar Shaddaa he does so under my protection" Goto warned "Do not harm him".
The Hunters exchanged looks some more, they had no idea what Goto was planning, but no doubt it involved the Sith Lord who was on his way to the Smuggler's Moon.
"That is all" the hologram then said.
The hologram vanished, and the droid left the room.
(Line Break)
I took a deep breath.
"Just smell that! The beautiful stench of decay and desperation" I said.
The others came out with varying degrees of reaction to having come to this place.
"This moon literally teams with life." Kreia said softly. "It is difficult to centre yourself in such a place".
Not that I'd tried.
"Buildings almost three kilometres tall, and canyons so wide you can almost dogfight in them" was what Atton had to say "Be careful where you step. You might never find the ground again".
Given my dislike of heights I wisely didn't peer over the edge of the landing platform.
"Will this pad be safe?" I wondered.
I remembered that it wouldn't be, but the details were shady.
"If it doesn't belong to a Hutt, and no one cares about the pads. Since this is technically refugee territory" Atton told me "Plus we didn't transmit our ID code on the way in, so unless they had eyes on us every second, they won't know which pad to hit".
By 'they' I assumed he meant the Sith.
"You wanted to find this Jedi master right?" Atton then asked.
Maybe, it depended on how things worked out.
"Zez-Kai Ell" I said.
Atton just shrugged.
"Yeah, whatever" Rand said "If he wanted to hide where no one would find him, this is the first place to look".
Assuming I bothered to, I wasn't really sure there was a point since Kreia was just going to kill them all, and they weren't likely to be of any use. Still following the plot of the game made some sense as at least then I'd have some idea of the bigger picture.
"I know a guy here that can get us a new transponder signature. There are something like eight of them in the computer, but T3 says they're all voice locked. I for one want to take that big bulls eye off my back" Atton was saying.
The Ebon Hawk did seem to get much more than its fair share of trouble, and I didn't think it was always because of the people her made up her crew. Like the Doctor's TARDIS my ships seemed to be drawn to trouble, or trouble was attracted to it.
"Then let's move out" I declared.
The sooner we got moving the sooner I could find a bar. I really wanted a drink.
"All right oh fearless leader. Where do we move out to?" Atton wondered.
"It doesn't matter where we go" Kreia said softly. "What we seek will find us eventually".
The Force would ensure it, I was almost certain of that.
"Remember to watch out for bounty hunters " I reminded everyone "If I can I will have that bounty lifted before we leave this dung heap".
Sure the bounty was for Jedi, but I doubted the more greedy types would care that I'd never worn brown robes. Plus Goto would be willing to work with a Sith and the whole bounty thing was just his way of sorting out a meeting with someone who had the power to help stabilise the galaxy.
"What're you doing on my pad!?" a voice called out.
The figure now flying toward us was a Toydarian. Which in my view looked like an odd mix of an elephant and a hummingbird.
"It's a landing pad. Ships land on landing pads" I said.
Apparently my attempt to lighten the alien's mood did not go down well.
"I got another ship coming later in the week, and they already reserved that bloody pad there" we were told "So push off!".
Already I was annoyed.
"How about I give you some money and pay for the pad, and in turn you leave me alone" I suggest "Or I could shoot you".
For some reason the alien took the money.
(Line Break)
Not long after Atton, he Handmaiden and I, Kreia was off doing her own thing, left the landing platform, we found a pair of goons who were bothering an old man who wore clothes that were barely more than rags, they left quickly when they saw us, no doubt unwilling to mess with people who could actually fight back.
"Thank you" the old man said "The Exchange is using these thugs to keep us all trapped in the Refugee sector".
Seemed a bit pointless to me, it wasn't as if refugees were worth anything or had any money, so why bully them?
"Why?" I asked.
The old man shook his head.
"We don't know. It started about two years ago. A Quarren named Visquis sent out goons led by someone named Saquesh, and the word was spread that if you wanted to work, he was the guy to go to. Anyone who refused, got beaten into submission, or disappeared. If you wanted to work, you went to his hiring hall".
So the refugees were being used as a source of cheap labour, that explained why anyone would care enough to keep them contained.
"You go where you are sent, work as many hours as they say" the old man was now saying "Then it got worse. About a year ago, Visquis started offering people a way off the planet. But you had to pay. Those that could pay just left. But no one has ever come back to tell us where they were going".
Sounded as if they were sold into slavery. Made sense this was Hutt space, the Hutts liked having slaves, they tended to see anyone who wasn't them as little more than a resource to be exploited.
"I wanted out, but I don't want to get out the way Visquis allows. So I slipped by the guard stationed at the refugee housing door. But they caught me" we were then told.
Since there was more reason for us to talk I handed the old man some money.
"Go, get out of here while you have the chance" I ordered.
The man shared at the credit chips as if he wasn't quite sure they were real. I didn't see what the deal was, the credit chips I'd just handed over weren't worth much, but he could get a hot meal using them, and maybe a few drinks.
"Thank you" he said.
Then for some reason he ran away
"And what good did that do?" Kreia asked, her voice once again entering my mind.
With some effort I was able to block her out. I didn't really want to hear her views of charity. Instead I just moved on.
"I know a guy who can get us a new ID transponder. I'll talk to him. Wait here" Atton was now saying
As the Handmaiden and I stood around doing nothing we were approached by one of those lizard men who often fight the Wookies.
"You are very brave or very foolish" it said "To land on Nar Shaddaa".
Slowly my hand moved towards my lightsabre, which was hidden from view by my armorweave coat.
"And you are?" I enquired.
"Vossk" it told me "Once of the Bounty Hunter's Guild. But no more. They are no longer the Guild I swore to. They are now cowards and honorless betrayers of a proud ideal".
I knew that the Bounty Hunters' Guild was an ancient institution that regulated the bounty-hunting trade. It was led by a guild master who held members to the Bounty Hunters' Creed, the unwritten rules of the bounty hunters. Its rules were the laws that kept bounty hunters together, but the guild was full of loose cannons, who would often break the rules for their own benefit. In truth the guild was more a coalition of the professionals than a proper organisation, and rivalries between its branches and members were a common occurrence.
The bounty hunters who joined the guild had the benefit of notifications of bounty postings before they were broadcast through official channels, which gave guild members a head start.
At some point in the past The Senate decided that the best way to regulate the hunters was for the bounty hunters to police themselves. The hunters were allowed to form governing bodies, records, leading to the creation of many guilds. Soon, these guilds formed together, creating one overarching group, the Bounty Hunter's Guild
"These days there are few that bring in their quarry alive" Vossk was now telling me "The Guild has become a license to kill anyone and everyone. Few in the guild take pleasure in the hunt and the capture. Now they glory only in death".
Seemed as if the guild had become a darker place, perhaps that was due to all the wars with the Sith. I'd not sensed any shift in the balance between light and dark, but if the darkness had stronger than the light since before I'd arrived in the galaxy I wouldn't know any better.
"It sounds as if you hate them" I commented.
The alien stopped to consider its words.
"Hate" it said "No. There have always been some of that kind in the Guild. But the leaders here on Nar Shaddaa are all of that sort. Except for a few, the Guild Rules are spat upon now as often as not. But there are some only a fool will ignore".
The alien went on to explain further.
"A contract is honoured if accepted" it told me "It can be set aside only by asking the one that issued it. When you hunt, if you discover another has already begun their hunt, you may both hunt the same prey, but are not allowed to kill the opposition".
It made a sick perverted sense when you thought about it. If you agreed to hunt someone, only the one issuing the contract could revoke your part in it. The prey belonged to the one that caught him.
"But the fools are caught in the words they cannot disavow" Vossk went on to say "Every major bounty hunter on the smuggler's moon has accepted contract for Jeedai".
He spoke the word 'Jedi' oddly for some reason.
"They have been told there is one here on Nar Shaddaa, and they hunt fruitlessly" I was now being informed "Almost five years it has been, and they cannot leave the moon until he is caught because it was worded so in their contracts".
Zez-Kai Ell had been here for that long? What the hell had he been doing?
"But you have come. They were warned about you" the alien said.
Now I was surprised.
"What?" I said.
"The word has come down that you are to be left alone. Why I do not know. They must watch, but cannot leap to attack. They are getting... frustrated" I was informed.
Goto had warned them off then. But why? Was he worried about me? Worried that I might come after him?
"So they'll come after me once their patience runs thin" I reasoned "any idea who will try?".
It was always best to learn as much about a potential enemy as possible.
"Try? Any bounty hunter worth the name will succeed, there are few you need to worry about" I was now being warned "There is a nest of Gand that came here right before the Bounty was set. They are confusing to other races, but as hunters they are excellent. They will hunt you anywhere and everywhere, and they have yet to fail".
"Also there are the Twi-lek pair called the Twin Suns. Zora and Kaliea, beautiful and deadly like a well-made blade. Their master on Nal Hutta tortured them, and it warped their minds. They danced for him one final time, doing an Echani Saber dance. When his body was found, the master was sliced thousands of times. They enjoyed that feeling of power, and now they hunt merely to feed the thrill again".
"Then there is the Zhug 'Family'. Banished from Duros. It is said they tried to overthrow the government, and fled the failure with only their lives. Azanti Zhug swears that when he gets the credits, they will return with an army and take the planet. Like the Gand there are hundreds of them grouped in separate clans beneath the Zhug name".
"A year ago droids of a series made by Systech suddenly entered the market. They are supposedly HK50 models. They hunt, but why they do not simply walk away from the contract is unclear. The number of them here on the smuggler's moon is unknown".
"Then of course there are Hanharr and Mira. But the only thing that keeps them both alive is the truce. Hanharr is a Wookiee. Taken as a slave from his home world long ago. He killed the Czerka slavers, took their ship, and stopped here. But like the Twin suns, it has warped him. He now hunts exclusively humans. When he captures them, he sells them into slavery after brutalising them. Only one has ever been caught and escaped. That one is Mira".
Mira was a possible companion for the Jedi Exile and could be for me as well.
"She escaped from him and came to this very moon, and to this day, no one knows how. She had taken her first contract as a bounty hunter before she was found; the second one she took was to hunt the Jeedai and only that kept her alive".
"Hanharr has hunted Mira since she escaped from him here on the moon, and only that truce keeps him from killing her. He has sworn to hunt her until the stars die of cold. But of all it is her I admire the most".
"Why?" I asked.
"She does not hunt for the kill. She accepts more contracts where the target is returned alive than any I have seen in decades. She kills rarely, but does not glory in it. To her it is something to be avoided. If you try to find who has set this bounty, it is to her I would suggest you turn, for bringing you in alive would be her way".
All useful to know.
"Thank you" I said to the biped reptile.
The alien dipped his head.
"Good hunt, human. You are the kind that deserves a decent hunt" he said.
And with that he moved away.
"Where's Atton gotten off to" I wondered.
Hopefully he wasn't in some kind of trouble.
Reviews
Selias
Well it would be a boring story if I stuck to closely to what happens in the game.
AgentMaine49
Bao Dur is such a boring character, and he only joined up with the exile since he served under him or her during the war.
