Taris Part 3
"I hate hutts" Avner muttered before he approached the hutt.
"What do you want, human? Are you here for bounties or the dueling ring?" the hutt demanded. Avner had to fight the urge to vomit. The hutt was breathing right in his face.
"I'm here to fight in the dueling ring" Avner said simply.
"Human, you look like you would be better suited for the upper city duel ring. These chambers are not for the soft, not for the weak of heart. There are many who can watch, but hardly any can survive. I have been ordered by Davik to end the fighting tonight. I have chosen to use a gauntlet style tournament to end the fighting. I have the rankings set from the upper city dueling ring combined with the government bounties as well. Your ranking is 4th out of 5 remaining fighters. Once you enter, there is no turning back. If you withdraw from the tournament, you will be hunted down and killed brutally. Are you in?" the hutt asked.
"What is the payout?" Avner asked.
"I operate under the same pay as the upper city. 10% of payout for every victory" Zax explained simply.
"I accept your terms, Zax" Avner told him. The hutt let out a hearty laugh.
"I like your spirit, Stranger. Let's get you out there before the money dries up" Zax suggested. Avner nodded, seeing a gammorean in front of him. The bell toned to begin the match and Avner had to dodge a few quick blaster shots before he could get close enough to the gammorean to turn the match into a melee duel. Two parries and a feint later, Avner was able to thrust his vibroblade through the gammorean's torso and the battle was over.
Avner rolled his eyes and motioned for the next competitor to come out. The next fighter was a twi'lek who sprinted at Avner before the match even began. Shrugging, Avner sidestepped and swung his vibroblade like a baseball bat at the incoming twi'lek.
It was slow motion. The twi'lek head rose up, separating from the body as the body fell to the ground. It felt like the head just hovered momentarily before it bounced off the ground and skipped into the wall. Avner's jaw dropped, wondering how that happened.
Suddenly, Avner felt something in the back of his mind and dove to his left just as a few blaster bolts pierced where he was standing a moment before. Avner grabbed a dagger off his belt and hurled it at his attacker. But, his attacker had already moved.
When he got eyes on his attacker, he was shocked to be looking at Bendak Starkiller.
"Attacking another Mandalorian dishonorably means death. Attacking any other living being without honor means banishment" Avner heard a woman say in his head. He shook his head, letting his instincts lead him into a melee battle with the Mandalorian. Avner didn't hold back until a tough swing knocked Starkiller's sword out of his hand. Avner kicked out at Starkiller's chest, knocking on the ground and held the point of his sword at the Mandalorian's throat.
"You have disgraced your people. You don't deserve to live. I will restore honor to the Mandalorians!" Avner said. Ignoring Starkiller's attempted response, Avner stabbed the Mandalorian right through his heart. He re-sheathed his sword as he exited the arena, wondering idly about how he knew those facts about the Mandalorians.
He stormed up to Zax, anger clear on his face.
"What the hell was that about?" Avner shouted his hand still resting on the hilt of his sword.
"This is how I have set up the gauntlet style tournament. Every match prior to the final is back to back. Now that you are in the final, you have the option to wait. The final match is at 2100 tonight. If you are late, you will not get paid. If there is nothing else that you need, I will see you tonight, Stranger" Zax told him, surprisingly calm despite the angry fighter in front of him.
Avner gave the hutt a curt nod before storming out of the cantina, searching for Carth and Treema. He saw them just as they were walking out of the room across from the cantina. When he saw the looks on their faces, he gulped.
"Something tells me I'm going to hate my life after this conversation" Avner muttered.
"So, what's the plan?" he asked, bracing himself for bad news.
"We need to break into the Vulkar base and retrieve the prototype swoop accelerator that the Vulkars stole from the Beks" Carth told him.
"If we do that, one of us will be allowed to ride in the swoop race as a representative of the Beks and we would have a chance to save Bastila. We will basically be inserting ourselves into the middle of a swoop gang war, but it's the best chance we've got" Treema continued.
"I'm guessing we can't just walk through the front door of the Vulkar base" Avner said.
"Gadon sold us some Sith security papers that can get us past the guard and into the Undercity. When we get there, Mission can lead us through the sewers and into the back entrance to the Vulkar base" Carth told him.
"Mission?" Avner asked.
"Just a teenage twi'lek who Carth and I saved from getting turned into dust earlier" Treema explained.
"So, we are placing all of our hopes on a teenage twi'lek who can't even defend herself from the Vulkars? How does that make any sense?" Avner exclaimed.
"Don't worry, Avner. You'll still be the baby of the group" Treema teased, turning quickly, her hair smacking Avner's cheek as she led the group toward the elevator to the undercity.
"I was right" Avner muttered as he fell into step behind his sister.
Carth showed the Sith trooper their security papers and the small group got into the elevator, descending right to the undercity.
When they got out of the elevator, two men in ragged clothes ran up to the group.
"You there! This is our elevator! Anybody who uses our elevator has to pay the toll!" the first beggar demanded.
"5 credits! That is what it costs to use this elevator. 5 credits!" the 2nd beggar demanded, sticking out his hand. Carth reached for a credit stick, but Treema reached out her hand to stop him.
"And when you get these credits, you're going to hoard them over everybody else in the village, right?" she asked. The two beggars looked at each other with shock before running away, getting scolded by a young woman who came over to talk to Avner, Carth, and Treema.
"I'm sorry about that; those two give everybody in the village a bad name. Most of us aren't like that, though; most of us are good people" the girl told them.
"I'm sure you are, miss. Would we be able to trouble you for some information?" Carth asked.
"I don't think I am the best person to ask for information. I could take you to Gendar and Rukil if you'd like. They would have much more information than me" the girl told them. The small group followed her to the center of the village. Avner went to Gendar, Carth to Rukil, and Treema continued to talk to the girl. A few moments later, the small group of three was walking toward the edge of the outcast village.
They exited the village and saved one of the outcasts before continuing on their search to find Mission. When they did find her, she looked to be panicking and was talking too fast for any of them to understand.
"Settle down, Mission. What's going on?" Carth asked.
"Zaalbar's in trouble. We were in the sewers and we were ambushed by gamorrean slave hunters! Zaalbar yelled at me to run, and I did, expecting him to be right behind me, but he couldn't get away from them!" Mission shouted, nearing hysteria.
"Do you know where he is being kept?" Avner asked. Mission took a deep breath before continuing, looking between the three with every word.
"Gamorreans make their camp in the sewers. The stink reminds them of home, I guess. I can take you there if you can help me" Mission begged.
"Hold on, Gadon said that you can get us into the Vulkar base" Avner told her. She shrugged.
"It's a deal. You help me get Zaalbar back and I will get you into the Vulkar base" Mission agreed.
"Let's get going then!" Carth suggested.
"Wait, we should split up. We can cover more ground this way. Two of us will go search the undercity for the promised land journals that Rukil was asking for while the other two will go into the sewers to rescue the wookiee and go into the Vulkar base" Treema told them.
"Well, Mission has to go into the sewers. Who is going to go with her?" Carth asked. Treema's smile grew wide as she looked at her little brother.
"Well, it only makes sense that the two kids go together, don't you think, Carth? It would be nice to have an adult conversation for once" Treema suggested.
"Really? Is there a second adult somewhere that Carth can talk to?" Avner asked, giving his sister a teasing glare. She laughed and gave him a little golf clap over her head.
"Well played, little brother. Be careful, we'll meet you back at the elevator in the village in four hours" Treema said, gesturing to Carth to follow her.
Avner was shocked that Carth wasn't upset about not being able to keep an eye on him. The pilot had made no secret about his obvious distrust for the smuggler who had done many things that Carth would never have been willing to do.
Avner shook his head out of his thoughts. He nodded at his sister and the pilot before turning back to Mission. They all had jobs to do and it was time to get them done.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, here's chapter four. I'm really enjoying writing this story, well, rebooting this story. I feel like I am doing a better job than last time with the storyline, but I am always looking for tips to become a better writer both in this story and my other ventures as well.
Leave me a review with any plot lines that you want to see for the star map planets. I am not sure if I will be adding anything to Tatooine, but if I am given a suggestion that I think can add to the story, I will surely do so. Thanks for reading and I will try to update as soon as possible.