Star Wars: Downfall/Chapter 3 - Outlaw

Chapter 3: Outlaw

Maako Tetsu groaned. Pain filled his hunched form, not as strong or sharp as before, but still a constant dull ache caused by his recent beating. He looked over at the man responsible, or what was left of him and then too his two comrades who lay in similarly lifeless heaps. He felt little pity for the deceased clone troopers, there were plenty more like them out in the galaxy from what he’d heard and these ones hadn’t been a particularly nice batch, although as clones he guessed they might all be equally as bad. He stopped studying the dead men and wiped a handful of blood from his face causing a sharp pain in his jaw as his long reptilian fingers made contact. Wincing at the new pain he realised the blood that had stained his face wasn’t even all his, strands of human red hung mixed in contrasting his own dark green fluids, he needed to find a refresher. But first he had the problem of his final captor, the Jedi. The young women lay sprawled on the floor and covered in blood, Tetsu could see a number of serious wounds across her form but knew from the unsteady and irregular rise and fall of her chest that they hadn’t killed her yet. Should he finish the job? No he pushed the thought from his head, despite the power he knew this girl held he couldn’t bring himself to kill her not while she was in this state and not after she’d apparently saved his life. He still wasn’t sure what exactly had caused his captor to turn on each other, but he figured it must have been something pretty serious after the way she’d torn them up in the fight. A shattered chair leg still protruded awkwardly from one of the men’s midriff. Tetsu crouched next to the girl; who was this amazingly skilled and yet seemingly insane women? Her abilities marked her as one of the Jedi whom he had heard so many rumours about, but her beast like rage and the murder of these men, they marked her as something all together very different., something he knew he didn’t know enough about. For now though he just had to hope that, who ever she was, she wasn’t going to kill him when she woke up. Pix opened her eyes slowly and hazily recognised her quarters, the transipsteel floor and walls, the small work desk covered in here few untidily strewn belongings, the viewport out into space and finally the cold bunk on which she now lay. Her body felt fragile and weak as she sat up and she could feel a number of bruises across her face and back. She tried to remember the cause of these injuries, and the events of her vicious battle with Waker and his clones flooded back into her memory. She gasped and tried to jump up, what had she done? They had attacked her, but why? The voice from Wakers helmet, had said something, maybe it had been that which triggered it, and then she had been wounded and…

She stopped; remembering clearly the rage that had consumed her. Horror rose up through her body like a cold unstoppable flood, only the dark side could have fuelled such violence. She sunk to her knees her head in her hands; tears filled her eyes and trickled down her tanned cheeks. It was over, the Republic and the Jedi order would surely hunt her down now, and maybe she should let them, better that then become a pawn of the dark side like the fallen Jedi she had been told stories about as a youngling. She knew of the terrible things they had done with the force and the lengths that the Jedi had gone to destroy them. But Pix would put up no such fight, she would wait for the ship to reach Coruscant and then turn herself over to the council. She had heard that they had the power to strip a being of the force and hoped that this would be the punishment they ordered upon her. The Jedi wondered if the council had the authority to execute members of their own order and preyed they did not, she wasn’t ready for death.

It was a long and silent hour before Pix emerged from her cocoon of self-hatred and pity and remembered the remaining survivors on the ship. She had been so concentrated on her own fate that she had completely forgotten Tetsu, who had saved her, was still somewhere on board as well as the final clone trooper, Fallout. As she thought about it she realised one of them must at least have helped her while she was unconscious, otherwise how had she ended up on her bunk and who had washed away the blood that had stained her skin before. Some of her wounds were even covered with bacta patches from the ships medical supply, which she had failed to notice when she awoke. Unsteadily Pix stood determined to find her carer, and staggered from the room. She made her way through the ships short expanse of corridors, finding the prison room and the clones bunk rooms empty. Finally she reached the ship’s cockpit which just beyond the small and cramped recreational area in the highest level of the transport. The recreational room was empty as well bar a few empty bottles of Corellian ale stacked on one of the small tables, possibly the cause of the clones assault on Tetsu. However as the wounded women entered the cockpit she greeted by the site of Tetsu slouched in the captains chair studying the ships complex control panels. He flicked several switches curiously and then turned his attention to one of the holoscreens. Pix suddenly realised she felt glad to have found the Rodian, she wasn’t sure she could of looked a man she already killed three times that day in the eye. The Jedi coughed quietly and Tetsu spun around slightly startled but quickly regained his composure. “Ah so you finally woke up” he grinned “and you seem to have calmed down as well, which I can’t say I’m complaining about” Pix struggled for words and she shied away in shame from the Rodian’s observation. Tetsu picked up on it and changed the subject quickly from Pix’s aggression realising he’d upset the girl

“Eh… so you wounds healing up alright?”

Pix looked up at him, confused by his casual tone, given they were both almost complete strangers for one thing and as far as she could see still possibly enemies.

“Why?” she spoke slowly and seriously “Why what?” the Rodian looked bemused by the question

“Why did you save me? Why did you treat my wounds?” she stared at him with a piercing glare, trying to see through his calm behaviour into the motives beneath.

“Why wouldn’t I?” He spoke as though it was the most obvious answer in the world “You were wounded and needed help and given you’d just …” he paused trying to think of a suitable word “disposed of several men who seemed quite intent on doing me serious harm, I felt it seemed fair”

“But I arrested you and killed your men. I’m taking you to trial right now, why save me when you could have been free?” “Way I see it Jedi; I assume that’s what you are” he waited for her nod of approval before continuing  “You were just doing your job back on Lok it wasn’t anything personal, we’re just on different sides of the law” Pix was taken aback by the criminals apparent forgiveness however the Rodian carried on “And any way I really don’t think your taking me to trial anywhere given your troopers actions earlier. It seems you find yourself on the same side of the Republics law as I do” Pix hadn’t considered that, what if it had been the Republic that had ordered her demise not just the rage of Waker, and if so why?

“And given that, your going to need some allies and I feel having seen your… abilities that we’d make a good team” Pix almost snorted in amusement despite herself

“A good team? Why would I team up with you, I already have the only ‘team’ I need in the Jedi order!” The Rodian didn’t look offended but merely shrugged “If you say so sweetie” he turned back to the controls and continued to fiddle with them. “But are you sure your team is going to like what you did to those clones?” Pix moved forward toward Tetsu angrily but stopped herself “It was self defence! You saw what happened” but she knew there was truth in his words and turned and left the cockpit before he had a chance to reply. The Jedi knew what she had to do and returned to her cabin where she found her small holo-projector and found that she already had a message waiting for her from the temple, the very place she had meant to call. Opening up the message Pix read it quickly, and then read it again taking in each word slowly. She couldn’t believe what she was reading, the message was short and simple but filled her with more horror than she thought any words ever could. It read.

''“Warning to all Jedi survivors The Jedi temple on Coruscant is destroyed and many of the Order have fallen. The Galactic Republic who we so naively served has turned on us and labelled us traitors. If you’re reading this message then you have survived the attack of the clone troopers who you are stationed with and presumably escaped. If this is so I can only urge you to hide. The Jedi order is no more and you will be ruthlessly hunted by the army which we once served beside. Disappear and hide your abilities, the survival of the few who remain is the only hope of the order. Good luck Master Obi-Wan Kenobi “''

Still numb with shock she checked the origin of the message and found it originated from the temple. Pix remembered having met Obi-wan Kenobi several times and Master Yoda had always spoken highly of him so the message was unlikely to be a hoax especially since the temples security was so high. The dreadful realisation that she was now alone slowly took hold of her mind. Her friends were dead, her home was destroyed and the ideals she had devoted her life too had failed. She had nothing. Tears began to gather at the corners of her eyes for the second time that day and for a while she just crouched on the uncomfortable floor shivering. Eventually she stood up and wiped away the tears. The order was gone but she wasn’t, further still she had justification for her battle with the clones and the rage she felt during it, for she now realised at that moment thousands of other Jedi across the galaxy had not been as lucky as her and had been caught by surprise, there deaths causing ripples in the force that had driven her mad. But still despite the restoration of her sense of self worth, Pix was unsure what to do next. Orders from the Jedi or the Republic had guided her throughout her entire life and now she was entirely independent as well as an outlaw. What path had the force laid before her? Tetsu stared at the monitor in front of him. He had managed to gain some understanding of the ship and had switched the autopilot off halting he and Pix’s journey to their demise on Coruscant. Despite his brief argument with the Jedi he was determined not to end up in one of the Republics prisons whether she worked with him or not. His only problem now was what to do with her. The girl could almost certainly beat him in a square fight and he’d heard creeping up on Jedi was impossible. His only option would be to get her on his side or simply surprise her face to face and down her in a shot or too before she knew what was happening. At that very moment he heard movement behind him and spun in his chair coming face to face with the very subject of his ploting. She stared down at him with a confiednet air to her expression, for a moment and Tetsu noticed her eyes were slightly red rimmed, had she been crying? Before he had time to think further on it she thrust her hand out in front of him causing the Rodian to flinch back.

“Partners?”

He opened his eyes slowly and saw her hand stretched out, ready to shake. He started to speak, confused “But I thought your team was…”

She interrupted him

“The Jedi are gone, when my clones attacked me the same thing happened to every other Jedi in the galaxy. Most weren’t as lucky as me”

Tetsu stared blankly at her taking in the astounding information

“So what, you want to join me as a pirate?”

She nodded briskly “Yup, I’m already wanted by the Empire so might as well make the most of it”

He stared down at the small slender hand that hung in the air infront of him. It looked so delicate and weak and yet he knew the in human strength that was concealed behind it. Tetsu grasped the hand firmly

“Welcome to the crew, Jedi” She smiled “Pix” He looked at her questioningly “Huh”

“My name, it’s Pix, or Pixadia Quen if you want to be formal” Tetsu grinned, he liked that name; It was short and sweet “Well Pix” he motioned to the monitor “Where too?”