Chapter 15: To Kill a Starkiller
Sorry to keep you guys waiting. I know I said I might be taking some time off writing this fanfic to focus on another one. Well, I had a little change of plans for the time being. I decided to take last week off since it was my birthday, and I've been writing nonstop for a long time now, so I felt it might be good to take a break. I think I've made up my mind to go through it next week though. But I won't be completely ignoring this story. Instead of every two weeks though it might take up to three or four. We'll see.
That aside, we are now entering the endgame for the Taris Arc. Just this chapter and one more then we should be off to Dantooine. Then once I complete the other story I'm planning to complete soon, I think I can begin working on this one weekly. But enough stalling, time to start the chapter.
Calak made his way back to the cantina, already recovered from the stab thanks to Bastila's force Healing. They had the launch codes and now just needed to make sure they had everything.
"I'm going down to where I stashed a few things in the Lower City!" Mission said. "I should also probably say goodbye to Gadon and the Beks. I'll catch you guys later at Javyar's Cantina!"
"Okay, be careful, Mission," Carth said.
Mission walked off with Zalbaar. That left Calak, Carth, Bastila, and T3 by themselves.
"Is there you anything you guys need to do?" Calak asked.
"Well, I suppose we're pretty well stocked," Carth said. "Mission found more grenades in the Sith Base so I don't think we need anymore. I guess I could go back to the apartment and make sure no one forgot anything."
Bastila shrugged. "Don't look at me! I just want to get off this planet before the Sith find me!"
T3 let out a neutral beep.
Calak sighed. "I guess I just have to kill Bendak to collect the bounty and I'm good."
"Alright," Carth said. "Not sure I approve of this but the guy is a killer so I guess its not too bad. Also, be careful, this isn't going to be like the other matches. It will be a fight to the death."
"I know," Calak said.
Bastila frowned. "I really think we should simply go straight for the cantina in the Lower City and forget about this."
"We need the credits," Calak countered. "Who knows for what in this war?"
Bastila sighed and muttered. "Mercenary. Well at least this isn't an innocent person."
Carth headed back to the apartment with T3 while Calak and Bastila went to the upper cantina. Bastila bought a ticket to get into the audience, hoping no one would recognize her. But she wanted to be there to support Calak if he needed it in this fight.
"You ready, Stranger?" Ajuur asked.
"Yes," Calak said. "Let's do this."
"Good," Ajuur said. "Everything is ready, some of the officials were hard to convince but since there is a government contract on Bendak they agreed to go through with it and not punish you. As long as you don't do any more death matches."
"No problem," Calak promised. "I'm gonna be leaving soon anyway"
"Really?" Ajurr asked, intrigued. "I haven't heard any news that the blockade is ending. But that would be welcome."
Calak gave a small chuckle. He had to be careful not to reveal anything more than was necessary. He did mean it when he said he wouldn't do a death match like this again. As long as it wasn't against anyone that was innocent.
…
He soon stepped into the Dueling Ring, for what was going to be the last time either way. Either he left Taris, or he died here. Calak hoped that would not be the case. The fear weighed on him. He was taking a risk for sure.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer spoke from the speaker. "We have a very special match in store for you today! Join me as we embark on a trip through Taris's bloody past, where two duelists entered the ring and only ONE of them came out alive! They're illegal, they're banned, but we got one in store for you! A good old fashioned DEATH MATCH!"
The words hung in the air as the crowd gasped. Though it was probably just for appeasement. Kebla had known this was going to be a Death Match so everyone else probably did.
"Over in this corner," the announcer continued. "A living legend! A man whose very name would make his opponents shake in their boots… if any of them were still alive!" he added with a laugh. "Out of retirement for one last battle! Bendak Starkiller!"
The crowd cheered loudly.
He now turned to Calak. "And who would be crazy enough to step into a death match with almost certain death? Ladies and gentlemen! Behold the newest champion of the Dueling Ring! The man who came to us only a week or so ago, with no history, no past, and no name… the Mysterious Stanger!"
The crowd cheered again, not as loud as for Bendak, but reasonably nonetheless. Calak took a breath to calm himself. This was no different than fighting the Sith.
"People of Taris, I give you… the Battle of the Ages!" the announcer finished.
Calak looked at Bendak who stepped forward, his blaster pistol already out. Calak held up his rifle and watched carefully. One wrong move and he would be dead. He reached for the energy shield to activate it, and Bendak reached into his pocket.
Calak only had an instant to glimpse the grenade in Bendak's hand as he pulled it out, pressed, and threw it. Calak ran with a start, the grenade landing right where he had been a second ago. His energy shield activated even as he took off. The red grenade, a plasma one, went off, releasing a roaring ball of fire that scorched the arena for an instant then went out.
"For Mandalore!" Bendak shouted with as much fire as his plasma grenade.
Calak shot a set of quick bursts, they hit Bendak dead on, but his Mandalorian armor was tough, it only received a small scratch from Calak's attack. But there were weak spots in the armor. Calak just had to get lucky and shoot them.
He didn't have time to let out another blast as Bendak threw another grenade. Calak ran and shot at the same time. The second plasma grenade went off.
"You want to play with fire, huh?" Calak taunted as he reached into his own pocket and drew a plasma grenade of his own.
He threw it and Bendak saw. He tried to run, but the heavy Mandalorian armor weighed him down and he couldn't get clear of the blast entirely like Calak. Still, he managed to get out of the worst of it and his armor withstood what remained, but it was clearly superheated. Bendak screamed and Calak saw his chance. He took careful aim, putting his blaster rifle to the highest setting for power blasts. A large shot flew from the barrel, it made a hole in the heated beskar steel of Bendak's armor but only scorched the skin. If Calak could shot him in that area again it would work. But Bendak recovered from his terror just in time before Calak could finish him off. He threw a third plasma grenade.
"How many you got?" Calak asked as he ran again.
"This is my last ONE!" Bendak shouted as he threw it.
This time he put the grenade so that it landed in the path Calak was going in. Calak rolled off to the side in an effort to get away. But he was caught in the blast anyway, thankful his energy shield managed to absorb the flames and prevent them from incinerating him. Through the inferno though, Bendak let off a pair of quick shots that broke Calak's shield the rest of the way. Calak gritted his teeth and…
Move. A voice seemed to tell him. To the side.
Calak did so, and sidestepped out of the way of a shot that would have caught him just below the neck. But not completely out of the way, for it still caught him in the shoulder. The soldier yelled in pain as his left arm became limp from the sniper shot. He dropped his rifle as Bendak shot a pair of quick bursts that narrowly missed him. Calak then drew his blaster pistol as Bendak took aim to deliver the final blow.
The sound of a blaster shot filled the ring. The crowd held its breath, unsure of what happened for an instant.
Calak's blaster pistol smoked as Bendak held his in position. The hole Calak had made in his armor had been shot through once again, this time piercing the skin and organ underneath. The revered gladiator fell with a sigh, but not of pain. One of content, he'd died a warrior's death, and was proud of it. His armored face hit the floor of the ring.
Calak took a breath as the adrenaline coursed through his veins. That had been his toughest battle so far in a one-on-one fight. It had been a fair fight to the death. He felt a surge of pride in that, he'd overcome it with skill and quick reflexes.
"Bendak is down!" the announcer said. "It's over! It's over! The fight is over! Bendak Starkiller is down! Bendak Starkiller… is dead!"
Calak made his way to the center of the ring and raised his pistol in triumph, managing a pained smile. He'd earned the top title.
"All hail the Mysterious Stranger! The greatest duelist to ever grace the rings of Taris!"
…
Calak gathered his rifle and painfully put it over his shoulder. He then made his way back up to the duelist lounge where Bastila was waiting for him.
"You were good out there. But I still can't say I approve of that. Even if he was a killer, you did not have to fight… or break the law," Bastila said.
Calak sighed. "I know. But he would have gone on unpunished most likely. Justice had to be done by someone."
Bastila looked down. "Maybe you're right. Well, what's done is done. I only hope you don't let greed or even a desire for justice lead you to the dark side. Here."
She put a hand on his wounded shoulder. With a quick transfer of force energy, the injury closed. Calak would need to have the armor repaired at some point as there now several holes in it from the various injuries he'd sustained against Rakghouls, Sith, Vulkars, and others. But that would have to wait. They couldn't afford to spend much more time on Taris. Malak would likely find out that Bastila had infiltrated the Sith Base sooner or later.
Calak made his way to Ajuur for his reward. The Hutt gave him the largest pile of credits yet at twenty-five hundred.
"Bendak's dead, I can't believe it!" the hutt said. "You've earned a big payout!"
Calak took the credits and then to his surprise, Ajurr handed him a blaster as well.
"I think I'll throw in Bendak's blaster as well for an added bonus. I hope you will use it with pride to honor him. It's a very high-grade blaster with a glorious history."
Calak accepted the gift with mixed feelings. It did have a glorious history, but also a bloody one. Still weapons could be used for both good or evil depending on who wielded them. This would make a good blaster for him, even better than either of his current ones as they were only the standard issues that couldn't be upgraded.
He and Bastila reunited with Carth just as he and T3 entered the cantina.
"We got everything," Carth said. "We need to go before the Sith-
At that moment, Carth was interrupted by a transmission on the cantina's holonet that replaced the current music being played.
"We interrupt our regular transmission to bring you a special news report! The Sith Military Base was broken into not long ago! Many good Sith Soldiers were killed and several items have been stolen. Currently no leads are found as to who was behind it. Reward offered for any information."
"I guess that's our cue," Calak said.
They ran as fast as they could to the elevator that took them to the Lower City. They quickly headed to the cantina down there where Mission and Zalbaar already were. Canderous was there as well.
"I knew you'd come," the Mandalorian said. "Now I know the Military Base had a break in and I know you've got the codes. You can't get off without a ship, and that's where I come in. You ready?"
"Yeah," Calak nodded. "I just have last thing to take care of real quick. It won't take long, just five minutes probably."
"Fair enough," Canderous said. "I'll be here."
And Calak headed into the bounty office nearby where Zax waited.
"Ah, the bounty hunter that's been collecting most of them," the second Hutt said. "Here for one more, I presume?"
"Yes," Calak said. "I killed Bendak Starkiller."
"I heard," the Hutt said. "Ironic, Bendak had a bounty for fighting in death matches, and you collect it by fighting him in one. Ah well, the reward is yours."
Another three thousand credits were handed to Calak. He was certainly striking it rich with all this work. But hey, great deeds earned great rewards.
"Pleasure doing business with you," Calak said. As long as it was business that didn't involve the death of innocents.
He walked back to Canderous. "I'm ready, let's do this."
"Good," Canderous agreed. "Here's the plan. I'm gonna say I ran into you and heard you were the winner of the big swoop race. Davak's always looking for new talent, you'll get in for sure. Once we're inside, we can steal his ship."
"This is too risky," Bastila objected.
"You got a better plan, sister?" Canderous asked.
"No, I'd just rather not put my life in your hands," Bastila said.
"I could say the same for you. But we need each other," Canderous said.
The Jedi sighed. "Very well, I wish I had other options though."
Canderous led them to where he had an air taxi waiting. But there was only room for five altogether. It was decided that Calak, Carth, and Bastila would accompany Canderous to Davak's estate. Mission, Zalbaar, and T3 had to remain behind.
"We'll be back for you guys when we get… what we need," Calak said looking back at them.
He avoided saying 'the ship' in case the driver happened to be working for Davak and might get suspicious.
"Okay," Mission said. "See you soon!"
The air taxi lifted off and flew toward its destination.
…
On board the Leviathan overlooking Taris, Darth Malak had just heard the military base had been broken into. He looked down at the planet, sensing a disturbance in the force. Soon Saul Karath approached him from behind.
The admiral bowed. "You summoned me, Lord Malak?"
The Dark Lord didn't look at him just yet. "The search for Bastila is taking too long. We cannot risk her escaping Taris. Destroy the entire planet!"
The admiral was stunned. "The… the entire planet, Lord Malak? But there are billions of people on Taris! We'd be slaughtering countless innocent civilians! Not to mention our own men still on the surface!"
Malak turned to face him now. "Your predecessor once made the mistake of questioning my orders Admiral, surely you are not so foolish as to make the same mistake?"
Karath backed away. "Of-of course not my Lord Malak! I will do as you command, but it will take several hours to position our fleet!"
"Then I suggest you begin immediately," Malak said before turning back to the planet. "You are dismissed, Admiral."
"Yes, Lord Malak," Karath said as he went to relay the orders.