A Reprieve from Good/Story

A Reprieve from Good

Story

Nobody messes with Jedi…

People are too scared to…

I’m not afraid of anything though…

They killed my best friend last night. The Jedi did. Three of them. We didn’t do anything wrong. Jakol and I were just sitting there. Talking. They came in. There was a Twi’lek girl dancing for Jorra the Hutt’s majordomo. They grabbed her by the lekku and dragged her outside. I don’t like causing trouble. I stay quiet. Jakol didn’t like what he saw. He got up. I waited. Then I got up. Got to get him out of trouble like always. Stepped out. They killed him. Girl’s dead too. Don’t care. My best friend. They killed him.

— — —

Not many women have power in this galaxy, especially on Nar Shaddaa but I intend to be the exception. However, you can’t have power without people. These Jedi or whatever they like to call themselves, are trying to weaken me by taking out my people. Now I need to do the same. It’s not going to be easy though. It never is for Jedi, especially these Jedi. I hear that they don’t listen to their bosses anymore. I hear that they don’t like how their bosses do things. I hear that they’re taking it upon themselves to clean up the streets. I don’t really care who they are or what they want. These are my streets.

Bounty hunters aren’t what they used to be. All of them are too scared. The ones that aren’t want too many credits. I thought I’d have no choice. Then, out of nowhere, a Zabrak walks in and says he’ll do it by himself for free. His clothes were plain, he had no expression on his face and he seemed devoid of all emotion. I didn’t get his name. I didn’t care. I didn’t believe in him.

“So you’re going to take them on all by yourself, correct?” I glared at him, he had to be mocking me.

“Yeah” he said, his voice gave nothing

“I should kill you for making fun of me”

“They killed my best friend”

“How sad” I didn’t care

“I’m going to kill them tonight” he said. However, it was the way he said it. Just as emotionless as before but the way it felt when he said it… for a brief moment, I believed he could.

“Then why waste your time and mine telling me this? Why don’t you just kill them now?”

“Don’t get in my way”

I was insulted “These are my streets”

“Don’t care. Get in my way and I’ll kill you”

I scoffed “I’d like to see that”

He didn’t say anything. He just continued to give me that blank stare.

“Fine” I told him “Get out”

— — —

Three Jedi. They surrounded a man. Everybody runs away. Two of them grab him while the other one takes out his sword. He’s about to kill him. I interrupt.

“Hey”

They turn their heads. Man is crying. He’s frightened.

“What do you want?”

“I want to kill you”

“Don’t make me laugh”

“It’s true” I told him

They look at each other. They look back at me.

“Get out of here before you get yourself hurt. You don’t want that” the Jedi waved his hand

I shrug it off. They know. They’re surprised.

“Are you good people?” I asked

“We’re the Jedi. Keepers of the peace” they said. They’re offended now.

“You didn’t answer”

“That’s it” one of them said

Jedi on left. Let’s go of man’s arm. Sword ready. He’s close. Now he’s really close. I grab his arm. I break it. Punch him in the face. Knock him out. Breathing faster. I’m angry. I let it show. The two Jedi take out their swords. One runs towards me. Other one jumps high. She’s trying to get behind me. I’m surrounded. Guy swings. I lean in. I grab both his arms. Stops swing half way. Head butt to his nose. He’s distracted. She tries a downward swing. I block her with my left forearm. Her arms are up. I punch her in the stomach. Then to the face. Guy tries to lunge at me. I throw the Jedi at him. They collide. I elbow her in the back of the head. She drops. I lean in. I kick him in the balls. I put my fingers through his eye sockets while other hand chokes him. He’s dead.

“How-?” Man is surprised. He gets up. He runs away,

— — —

I’m not a Jedi Master. I should be but I’m not. I read the history of Qui-Gon Jinn one time. It is said that although he did become a Jedi master, he wasn’t allowed on the council due to his constant disobeying of their wishes. I admire him for that. I’ve always felt that he and I shared many similarities. However, the difference between him and I is that he never lived long enough to take that next step. That step where you realize that the Jedi ideology is flawed, that the idea that ‘good’ can only be considered ‘good’ if it’s in conjunction with laws and rules.

My followers and I disagree with that point of view. If a man commits a crime he deserves to be punished. However, I’m not so ignorant to think that things like trials aren’t important. But sometimes you know. Sometimes it’s obvious. Sometimes you can just see a man and you know what he’s done. But sometimes the guilty roam around free and the innocent are punished. Am I supposed to turn a blind eye? Am I supposed to just accept this? Accept that an innocent man is going to live out the rest of his life in a prison cell while a criminal continues to break the law for all to see? No. I’m not saying I’m right. I’m not saying what I do is right. But it’s the choice I’ve made. The choice we made. That’s why we’re here.

“So he incapacitated you and the killed the other two?”

She nodded. Her face twisted with guilt and fear. Fear in what this Zabrak had done and fear of what I had to say about it.

I got up from my chair and slowly paced around the table “Was he a bounty hunter?”

“I’m not sure” her voice shaky and angry

“Why are you not sure?” I asked

“He wore civilian clothing”

“He had no armor on?”

She nodded while she crossed her arms and grasped her elbows.

“And he didn’t use any weapons?” I asked curiously

“No”

I sat back down and I put my hands together “So what you’re telling me is that some alien appeared and killed two Jedi and knocked the other one out with just his fists. How’ is that possible?” I asked calmly but frustrated.

“He- he- he caught us off guard… and he didn’t give us time to react”

I smirked “I’m impressed… with him. Not you”

She bit her lip

“I think I can deduce what happened. Let me see…” I thought for a moment on how I was going to explain it “So… this Zabrak comes and challenges you three into a fight but his challenge confuses you. Why wouldn’t it? You think he’s harmless and even if he wasn’t, there was no way he could defeat a Jedi let alone three, right? But let me guess some more… he gets on your nerves but you won’t hurt him because you think he’s- again- harmless. That’s when he takes advantage of the situation. He pisses you off. You try to grab him by his collar or something like that. You give him a brief opening which is enough to kill the first guy. Then you two, shocked about what you’ve just seen, but trained to react right away, instinctively try to attack him in hopes of catching him off guard. Obviously it failed cos’ you’re here giving me this sad news”

“I’m sorry…”

I lay back on my chair “You think- well all three of you apparently thought- that just because you’re Jedi you’re invincible, that just because you wield something as powerful as the Force that no one can oppose you… well… all I can say is that I hope you’ve learned your lesson”

“Again I’m sorry. I’m so so-”

“I don’t want to hear it”

— — —

I run a rather small Cantina. I do this to keep a low profile. Not to hide from the authorities since there’s no semblance of that here on the Smuggler’s Moon. No, I try to keep a low profile from others like me. My turf has rules. Everyone has rules but Nar Shaddaa is all about breaking rules. When someone breaks the rules the only thing you can do is answer with violence. I’m not wasting the lives of my cohorts. When you stay quiet and you do it well, nobody bothers you.

My cantina is just like Nar Shaddaa itself. Behind the bright and varied neon lights that cover everything is a place where scum like to spend their time. I’m sitting in my own personal booth. While the criminal patrons drink and watch slaves seductively dance for them. I see the Zabrak from four hours ago walk in. He makes his way up the stairs where he’s stopped by my Gamorrean guards. I wave for them to leave. He sits across from me, his hands under the table and his blank yet focused gaze directed towards me. He makes me feel unsettled but I do my best not to show it.

“I’m sorry”

I smirk “Then why did you come back? To waste my time again?”

“I only killed two of them”

My eyes widened and I straightened myself “You… killed- prove it”

“I have their swords”

“Prove it” I repeated

He reached for his pocket and pulled out what seemed to be two metal handles. I realized that they were lightsabers.

“You could’ve gotten those anywhere” I said in disbelief “You could’ve bought them. They’re probably fake”

He didn’t answer. He just stood there giving me that emotionless look. I swallowed hard. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know how he did it. I didn’t want to believe him. I didn’t have to believe but when I looked at him… I just did. I crossed my arms as if it just became cold. It did become cold. The source of it sat right in front of me.

“I’ll kill them tomorrow night. All of them. I’ll keep my promise this time” and with that, he got up and left. I can’t remember the last time I felt this way. I hope I never see him again.

— — —

Nar Shaddaa is a busy place. It’s hard to do anything without someone noticing. That’s why I wonder… why is tonight so barren and desolate? I searched through the Force for anything out of the ordinary. For all I know this could be a trap set up by crime lords to take us out. I didn’t find anything. I guess tonight was a special night. I couldn’t help but smile while I turned to the beaten down Rodian who was being held by all three of my partners.

“Please… what did I do wrong now?” he asked in his native language “You got the wrong man! I didn’t do anything I swear! Please don’t make me swallow! Please”

“You’re disgusting”

“Why is this happening again? Why?!”

Again? What did he mean? It doesn’t matter “You’re a bounty hunter. Correct?” I asked him, my hands behind my back pacing back in forth

“I didn’t do anything wrong!” he persisted, ignoring my question

“You were going to kill us. You were going to kill me. And for what? A quick credit?” I drew my lightsaber

“I just want to go home. I want to puke this out”

I said nothing while I ignited my blade. Then, with a swift, downward slash, I killed him, his lifeless body falling down to the ground. I couldn’t help but derive pleasure from this. This was the justice that I’ve always sought. Real justice. Crime is a disease and unlike some people who’d rather fight off the symptoms, I fight everything. I’m an antibiotic.

“Do you sense that?” one of my partners asked “Someone’s approaching us”

I turned around and saw a Zabrak walking towards us with his hands in his pockets. Reminded of last night, I turned to her and saw the look of fear and dread on her face. It was him, the man that was out to get us. The other two reached for their lightsabers but I held out my hand. This Zabrak, I wanted to meet him. I wanted to see the alien who easily killed two of the finest Jedi I’ve ever known so I let him come close, much to the chagrin of everyone else. He stood there, right in front of everyone us. The three glared at him but I merely gave him a questionable look. His attention was focused on me and only me. He betrayed no emotion and even in the Force he seemed blank. It was almost as if he were a droid.

We shared an intense silence until he finally broke it with these words “I’m going to kill you”

His declaration sent shivers down my spine and I clenched my fists. Without looking at them, I nodded for my friends to back away. He took his hands out of his pockets which made them instinctively reach for their weapons but I once again held out my hand to stop them. I didn’t know how, maybe it was through the Force but I could tell he wanted to face me. One-on-one.

“You want to fight me? Right?” I asked

He nodded. I nodded as well.

We circled each other. We took our time. I knew he wasn’t going to attack first. He didn’t have a weapon. I didn’t know his fighting technique but it had to be a defensive one. All he needed was for me to get close enough for him to make his move. I could use the Force to push him away and then augment my speed to kill him before he could get up. Maybe that would work. I’m still hesitant though. Maybe that’s what he wants me to do. The more I thought about it the more it made sense that I had to drag this duel out. Maybe his whole technique centered on killing me quickly.

“I win” he said and started walking away

“What?” I asked, bewildered

He didn’t answer me. He just kept walking. I didn’t know what was going on. Why was he walking away? Should I stop him? What was going on? I turned to my partners and they were just as confused as I was. Then, out of nowhere, something exploded. It was so sudden. It was-

— — —

I should’ve told him that I didn’t want him to come back. There was nothing I could do now. For the third time in the past two nights he sat across from me, giving me that distinctive blank stare that made me feel uneasy. I could’ve had my guards throw him out but he was here. What did that mean? Did he actually succeed? I guess there’s only one way to find out.

“Why are you here again?”

It took him a while to answer. His silence made me feel apprehensive “They’re gone. They won’t be bothering you again”

“How did you do it?” was all I could muster

“I shoved grenades down a guy’s throat and they found him”

I didn’t know what to say. I’ve heard crueler things done to others. I’ve seen crueler things done to others… but it was always the way he said and stated things that made his actions more potent. I blinked hard. I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t stand his presence. He was a monster. A cold, ruthless monster.

“Get out of here” I said, my voice shaky “If I ever see you again- just don’t- just get out of here and don’t ever come back”

He didn’t say or do anything. He got up and left. And that was all there was to it.

— — —

Jakol. You were the only one who understood me. Now you’re gone. Now no one understands me. I’ll miss you. I feel alone. I am alone. A toast to you. I take sip of my drink.