KitKringle.Net

My first Star Wars Campaign. The characters depicted are as follows:

Rytal: Jerry
Tek: Arron
Babous: Shawn
Trace: John

I am telling the story based off of the actions that have taken place at our role play sessions. The character speaking is a character of mine, he, like the rest of the characters, has not been named at this point in the story. Hopefully this will be entertaining for everyone to read

Chapter One: The Hunt Begins

It was unusually foggy for a typical day on Nar Shaddaa but I have come to accept such things for what they are, that is, nothing is ever typical on Nar Shaddaa. The musty air filled with dust and the smell of corrosion and vapor trails long sense dispersed by incoming and outgoing trade ships filled my nostrils as I turned the corner while lighting a death stick. I commenced to take a long draw. I paused for a moment and let out a comforting sigh of relief, hours of stress seemed to pour out as I exhaled.

My senses convulsed for a moment but not in a physical way, call it a sensitivity if you will, for if referred to as anything else one might find themselves subject to Imperial engagements that are unwanted. I pressed the death stick to my lips again and watched him walk into Nekmit's Cantina, I think of it as more of a pub really, not much larger than a couple of bed rooms and nothing too particularly note worthy inside but it was certainly a good place to lay low. I was also familiar with the bar keep himself but to conversate about his true dealings would cost you credits you don't have.

I filled in a few steps behind the man who had just passed me, I have never been too keen on blowing my cover, I'd like to think I am rather stealthy really. He sat in a corner in the opposite end of the room, I sat at the bar keeping a distance. He was far from typical one might say, he wore a brown cloak tattered with stains and torn edges at the bottom as if it had been dragged and stepped on far too many times. He leaned in with his elbows on the table and sipped from his cup, the liquid was unique, probably something new, but it had a light coming from it emitting a calm cool blue aura across his face. You could see the facial hair running across his top lip and connecting to that around his chin, you could see the drink reflecting off his dark brown eyes, and you could feel the tension, or at least I could. I was particularly good at tracking others my 'talents' as I will refer to them are almost one of a kind given the state of our galaxy.

"Keep em' coming Nek," I called to the bar keep, the Toydarion flapped his wings and slid me a glass from the other end of the bar. "Always working eh- He called me by name at this point but I wish to keep that anonymous for now. I flashed a friendly smirk back and replied, "of course Nek, when am I not doing something to keep the credits flowing?" I shrugged with a smile and he chuckled and flapped out of sight checking on other patron's drinks.

I turned slightly to my left making a casual glance at the door, two more beings were entering. One, tall and well kept, he was quite a sight. I laughed to myself when I saw him, not often do you see someone with such a popular face walk into a cantina on a bounty hunter infested planet with a head shaved and shinny enough to reflect light from the emitters overhead. I really cannot blame him though, after all, I'm here and so is my mark, this would be the last place a hunter would look for prey. The man with the humorously shinny head walked past, he was wearing battered padded armor, it looked black, but he might have been covered in something. He brandished a jetpack as well, not the best way to fit in around here but to each his own I suppose. However wearing the face of a clone is rare enough, it's even more rare to still be breathing in his case. The imperials are not kind to those who they deemed betrayers of the Empire, they were also not kind to those attuned to the Force, that is what I hear from my sources anyways.

The second being was a Twi'lek, his lekkus draped down his back with a fascinating crisscrossing pattern. His skin was a pale blue and he too was covered in grim but I would venture to say he was a mechanic of some sort. His white shirt and brown cargo vest were covered in black scorch marks and his pants as well save the knee pads he wore. From his belt a blaster was visible but he carried himself quietly and walked softly, I doubt he would pose much of a threat and I am rarely wrong about such things.

The clone and Twi'lek sat down two tables away from him, my mark. I sighed, "I truly hope these two do not get in my way" I said to myself as I excused myself from the bar. I tossed a few credit chips across the counter to Nekmit and walked towards the front door. A rather exhausted sounding human female brushed past me in a hastily manor as I walked out the door, some people can be so uncivilized around here. I looked down at the ground and shook my head, I could not expect many, if anyone at all, to be civil on a planet such as this.

I turned to my right sliding a hand into my left coat pocket for another stick. I put it between my lips and walked towards the back of the cantina. There were crates lined down the side ally, garbage as well, however it was pretty well lit given the time of day. I slide past the back corner of the joint and pressed my back against the wall next to the rear exit. I took a long draw and surveyed my surroundings. There was a large garbage container to my right pressed against the neighboring building and Nekmit's speeder. I exhaled and reached out for a moment, It feels good to let go sometimes, its not often that I am able to relax.

I caught a glimpse of him from the corner of my eye, down the back ally he creeped coming closer but making sure to keep out of sight as much as possible. I could feel him more than I could see him, but I knew I'd seen him before. He wore a cloak fastened tightly to his collar, his helmet under that allowed for no eye contact and the rest of his outfit was almost never seen given his choice of movements. He'd been following me, that or following the same man I was, things didn't seem right, but only time could tell.

I took the last draw of the death stick and dropped it to the ground. I smeared it with my right foot and leaned back into the wall. I placed my left foot against the wall and crossed my arms thinking for a moment. The boots I wore were comfortable, the plates built in that covered my knees had saved my mobility many times, but to the untrained eye no one would be the wiser. They were black, with the plate from the knee down the shin being a dull metallic color. The wind, if I may call it that swayed the fabric of my black pants and jacket from side to side, they were well kept as well. Nothing too over the top, I had to fit in around here after all.

I brushed a hand through my spiked light brown hair and took a deep breath, "I wonder when-

Something was wrong, something had changed, I could hear commotion from within the cantina. It was the woman who walked into me as I came out of the place. She was screaming and the sound was getting closer. The back door crashed open and I ducked out of sight. She came through the door and smashed into the ground, a man was screaming at her wildly with his hands at her throat.

'I hope he doesn't...this could be bad, she was bate...' I said to myself as the Twi'lek and the Clone walked out to investigate. I could see my mark coming from the front of the cantina around to the back, he stumbled a bit I suppose he had become a bit of a drinker since the wars, cannot blame him, but given his current situation, I'd rather see him sober than possibly dead.

The Twi'lek pushed the man aside and knelled down offering to help her up. He reached out a hand but as she rolled over she met his cheek with the end of a rather nasty looking blaster pistol. 'Get off of me!' she screamed, 'We are here for...him!' she pointed 'THE JEDI!' She kicked at him causing him to stumble a bit. He lunged at her knocking her pistol aside and made a heroic attempt to restrain her. We was quick and rash however, his companion with the shinny head and the jet pack was standing no more than five feet away and did not hear the foot steps behind him. He was met by two more thugs whom had their guns drawn as well.

My mark, he stood to the right of the clone, slightly ahead of him, he had not seen his face yet, I imagine he was in shock. Surprised he had been tracked perhaps. During his moments of dumbfoundness the original thug, I assume he was the leader, was getting to his feet, facing the commotion with his back to the long ally. 'Stop!' He screamed 'There is no need for you to die here, we only want him!' He said as he too pointed at my mark, the Jedi. Things were silent for a moment, the thugs with their guns to the back of the clone's head pressed closer using their free hands to restrain his shoulders but they were too fixated on the Jedi to pay any attention to what the clone himself was doing.

The silence broke...what a way to get the ball rolling. I shook my head as I heard the sound.

CLAP! The clone had raised his arm up and pulled the trigger of his blaster just below his shoulder and although it appeared as if he had his weapon set to stun, the mans body went limp and blood began to pour from his ears as his knees buckled and his body fell contorted upon the ground. The Jedi turned to face the sound, I cannot forget his reaction. I've seen some Jedi do some strange things, but never such as this. His eyes seemed to become as large as saucers when he saw the clones face and with a subtle whisper of the Force he leapt to the roof of the cantina. 'Wait!' The clone screamed but at that same moment he suddenly remembered the remaining man behind him.

Time began to slow for a moment and for what seemed like an eternity but was really a fraction of a second I saw a turning point before it happened. The reflection of a street lamp off of a glass surface caught my eye, the cloaked man whom I assumed had been following me just drew his weapon, and as if in slow motion I could see all of the lines connecting everything and everyone together. As the call upon the Force died down I saw everything fall into place. The cloaked, stealthy figure off in the distance, had pulled the trigger. The thug still holding the clone went limp and fell back, he had taken the blunt of the force to the center of his head. The blood splatter was gruesome but not so much as the smell left behind, a very coppery sent really.

The clone took his chance as the seconds past and the shot rang past his head, he ignited his jet pack and lunged towards the roof, 'Jedi, I need- he was cut off. The Jedi lowered himself at the knees into a martial arts type of stance, echani by the looks of it, and with the meeting of his hands he called upon the force and slammed the clone down on top of the Twi'lek.

A very interesting predicament this had turned into indeed. The Twi'lek had been hard at work wrestling with the woman whom I noted was bate. He must have been a comical fellow, that or not well trained because he had fought her into submission with a binder cuff latched to her left wrist and the other end around her right ankle. So visually, I had just observed a flying clone get smashed into a Twi'lek who now had the female thug 'restrained' with the lot of them lying half unconscious on top of each other.

The leader stepped forward, the only one with a grip on a blaster, his forehead was covered in sweat. 'Thats enough!' he bellowed 'Get off of her and you, Jedi, get down - he was cut off. He had taken a shot from down the ally, one to center of his back. It came from the cloaked figure as well, quite sloppy of a shot from my observations I mean he had just taken one of the thugs heads clean off with one blow, to not have had a one shot kill this time was absurd, but I was wrong. As the leader of the thugs fell to a knee and coughed he was struck with a second and final shot, but there was no blood. His body lunged forward several feet and he slammed face first into the ground, unconscious from the stun bolts. 'He might be smarter than I predicted' I said to myself. He slung his rifle over his shoulder and let it hang loosely as he approached at a slow sprint.

The Twi'lek climbed to his feet and helped the clone up, both of them were a bit out of it, I imagine I'd be a bit out of it too had I just taken a slam from a roof while in full thrust from a Jetpack. The Jedi remained still surveying the others unsure of what to think, he too missed her.

She walked by me from the cantina itself, 'who...how could I have...' I had not noticed her either, but she was dressed in the traditional Jedi robes, or at least I thought they were, they were all black. I caught a glimpse of her saber, she felt...I felt rather, her anger. She must not have been a Jedi for she chuckled as she walked past the comical mes and drew no attention to herself.

Thump! My attention was brought back to the mediocre hunting party, the clone had shot the woman who was in the binders. I tried to listen to what he was saying as he pulled the trigger but It was hard to make sense of anything through all of the profanity he was muttering. He left a dent in the ground from what used to be her unconscious face, rash indeed, sigh. His anger had clouded him further, he nor the Twi'lek saw the cloaked marksmen turn the corner, let alone perceive his actions. He had restrained and gagged the stunned man and pulled him out of sight.

'You should really get off the Roof Rytal' he said, 'And you two, the sloppy ones, yeah you' he said as the Twi'lek and clone turned towards him 'help me move these bodies.' All eyes drew towards the figure and the tensions shifted. He sighed,'look' he said 'If I was here to kill you do you think I'd of left you standing, actually let me reword that, do you think you would have even saw the shot coming?' He gestured to his right at the bloody mess he had left when he put an over charged rifle bolt through the thugs skull that had previously been behind the clone. 'You should be thankful I am on your side clone, I had the urge to pull the trigger on you myself but something told me not too, all of my babbling is useless however if we are caught here. We should move these bodies and go somewhere where we can talk without worries.'

Rytal jumped down from the roof and stood beside the marksman and watched as he stuffed a body into a dumpster. 'Why should I trust you?' he said, looking at the clone. His eyes were wide and intense, you could see the reflection of the clone's face in them, he must have been trying quite hard to resist the temptation of the dark side especially after what the clones had done not more than six months ago. The clone replied slowly, 'Master Jedi I- Rytal had cut him off, 'If you address me as Master Jedi again you will find yourself to be one of the unlucky few to be stuffed into this dumpster, understand me?' 'Yes Sir!' the clone replied. 'And drop the sir crap will ya, I'm not your leader, do us all a favor and make yourself fit in.' Rytal turned away and shook his head, 'A covering for your face would do us all some good.'

The marksman chuckled as if amused, ' Are you going to hold hands now or would you like to get out of here?' He gestured towards the ally from which he came. 'I have a speeder and a makeshift home, we can use that as a staging point for now if you'd like, but we need to get moving.' He slung the unconscious man over his shoulder and walked down the ally. 'You don't have to follow, I only saved you because I thought you were with Rytal, but after seeing how he greeted you..' the marksman laughed and paused, 'I don't think I'll have to ask, his actions speak louder than words. No companion of mine would have slammed me to the ground, however comedies aside, follow me and we might find out what these thugs were after, if not, thats your choice but I'm not waiting.' He loaded the captive into a rather small rear compartment and ushered his new 'friends' into his speeder.