Betrayal At Mos Eisley
Contributed By Derek Johnson
It had been a long time since he had smelled the dry dusty air of Tatooine. It hadn't changed a bit since he remembered it. He still hated it. Lighting a small cigar that hung in his mouth, Jarret Rade made his way down the ramp of his ship.
*******
The Flight Reciever glanced up at his screen. He scanned down the list until something on the screen jogged his memory. Looking it up and and down again until he saw the name of a ship. "Requestor". Still not remembering where he had heard of the ship from, he ran it's name through the databanks of his information computer. The age old computer took longer than the newer models found on other planets. This was after all Tatooine. A Sector Bounty bulletin board popped up on the screen. He searched until he found the name. Jarret Rade. Wanted in the the Rat'Kah sector for the murder of an imperial governer, possesion of illegal weapons, breaking and entering into a bio weapons lab, and arson. Last seen flying stolen ilegal METCOM 63345 Erison class starfighter Requestor. The Flight Reciever whistled quietly. "Send this bounty along with the ship Requester file to the commisioner," He said to the transmitter. "This is one bad guy."
*******
Mos Eisley's appearance had changed, but the same dark evil slime still existed at it's core. The only thing that had changed, was the ever constant stormtrooper presence. When Jarret had last left Tatooine as a 16 year old, the only stormtroopers he saw were the ones on vacation or passing through to other sectors. It looked like the Empire had claimed another victim. He walked down the street and dodged a speeder coming at a suicidal angle. Don't expect respect in Mos Eisley. His father had taught him that as a boy. Taking the same routes he had taken as a boy, he walked until he reached his destination. Chalmun the Wookie's cantina. He had an old friend to visit.
*******
Commisioner Rengar Greeth was interupted from his work when a soft beeping noise filled the room. Going to his message reciever he punched in his access code. The computer accepted his code and relayed him the incoming message. Another bounty, big surprise. With all the scum in Mos Eisley he wondered why they even bothered to check the ships that came in and out.
Just as he was about to flip the tranciever button for Imperial Patrol he looked at the file more carefully. Finding what he was looking for, a stony glare came over his face.
"He came back. The damned fool came back."
*******
"Well well well, Jarret Rade. Been a while since I've seen you here. Looks like you haven't had a shave in a week."
"Can it Wuher." Jarret said rubbing the scruff that covered his neck and face. "I'm looking for Kobalt. He still hangs around here."
"Right over there." The bartender said seriously after a moment. "Now get out of my face I got customers to serve."
"Could've fooled me." Jarret replied, flipping the bartender a credit as he walked away into the nearly empty cantina.
Kobalt's smile was as ugly as he was. Half his face was missing, leaving him a scarred and hateful man. He was the one that had hired Jarret for his last job back in the Rat'Kah sector. While he was there, he had aslo taken care of a personal matter. After finishing the job, Jarret got his revenge on the Imperial Governer that had ordered his father's execution. Taking the seat across from Kobalt, he set a data chip on the table. Kobalt again flashed his ugly smile. He reached out to take it. Jarret got to it first.
"You know what you owe me." Kobalt's smile vanished. From his pocket he produced a account card. "There it is, all of it. Damn near cleaned me out."
"Your breakin my heart" Jarret said as they exchanged items. "You could sell the information on that chip for millions."
"Try billions my friend. Billions that the KamoSphere coporation owes me." Kobalt replied, running a finger down the scarred half of his face.
Jarret shrugged "You weren't that pretty to begin with, I don't see what your complaining about. I think you look better scarred than you did when you weren't. At least now you can tell people you used to be good looking."
"Keep talking mercenary and you'll find a poisonious mynock in your bed when you sleep. Speaking of which, how long has it been since you've slept?"
"Had to hide in the labs sewer system for 3 days. Couldn't sleep in case the serpent hunter found me." Jarret shook his head. "The things they can do with bio-technology these days."
"Yes, just think of what I'll be able to do tomorrow." Kobalt said with another smile.
Jarret got up. "Its been fun Kobalt, see you next job when your pockets are fuller." As he walked away, Jarret heard Kobalt say with a snicker "Much fuller."
*******
"I don't care where your men are seargent,
reorganize your raiding party and seize the ship in Docking Bay
44." He said losing patience. "Commisioner, even if I
issue the order now, my troops still need time to prepare. Its
only been 2 hours since our last raid on Docking Bay 97. A
corellian hot shot had some aim. We've had signifigant
causualties." The seargent pleaded.
Rengar scowled. "Do it fast, Rade won't be here for long."
"Seems an awful lot of trouble for just one man. Why do you want this guy so bad?"
"The Empire didn't recruit you to ask questions seargent. Follow my orders, or I'll have to blame someone for letting a sector wide fugitive escape." Rengar said, shutting off the transmission.
*******
His business on this planet was done, he had his money. It was time to go. Jarret entered the docking bay and immeadiatly alarm bells rung out in his head. Stormtroopers. They were everywhere, all over his ship. Several troopers saw him and alerted the others. In a loud and amplified voice, one of the stormtroopers shouted. "Fugitive, get on your knees and put your hands behind your head. Follow my orders or we will use force to aprehend you. Do you understand?"
"Uh huh" Jarret said quietly, pushing a button on his belt. He winked at the stormtroopers and took one last look at the Requestor as it erupted in a spectacular explosion. Turning around, Jarret bolted. The explosion had killed a lot of stormtroopers, but the rest were on his tail. red arcs of laser flew at him from behind. Jarret skidded around a corner and out of the collapsing docking bay. Not turning around to see it fall, he jumped on a nearby speeder. Starting it up, He blasted away, heading East. Several minutes later, the place was swarmed with nearby stormtrooper patrols, along with firefighter droids to put out the blazing rubble that had been Docking Bay 44.
*******
In his personal transport, while en route to the
interogation center, Commisioner Greeth's message screen beeped.
Setting his drink aside, he pushed the flipped the answer switch.
A stormtrooper face popped up. In the backround chaos ravaged the
scene. "What is it? What happened?"
"There was an explosion in Docking Bay 44. A stormtrooper raiding party was in it at the time." The trooper said, no emotion in his voice.
"Are there any survivors?"
The stormtrooper nodded. "Just one." Three more troopers helped another stormtrooper to the vid-screen. His armor was badly burned and cracked. It was the seargent Rengar had spoke with. The one he had sent to retrieve Rade.
"What happened seargent?" Rengar asked. His helmet off, the man wore a look of anguish and pain. "Jarret Rade entered the docking bay. When I ordered him to surrender, he blew the ship with a remote device. The docking bay collapsed killing everyone. He escaped."
Rengar sighed in frustration. As the carried the injured seargent away, Rengar could hear him repeating the words "All of them. There all gone. An entire unit.".
Turning his attention back to the trooper in charge he spoke. "Spread your men out, comb the entire city of Mos Eisley. If and when you find Jarret Rade, apprehend him, alive."
The stormtrooper cocked his head to one side. "Alive? Frankly sir, I'm a little concerned over catching a man who just took out 30 stormtroopers and escaped, alive."
"Don't question my authority, he is to be brought in intact at all costs. Understood?" Rengar replied.
The stormtrooper nodded. "Yes sir." He said cutting off the transmission.
*******
Jarret remained deathly silent, crouching inside a shipping box by an old warehouse. Day had turned to night, and trooper presence still hadn't calmed down. They were everywhere now. Searching, searching for him. Jarret could have waited them out under normal circumstances, but he hadn't slept in 4 days, and he was breaking down. He was about to nod off when he heard voices and footsteps coming closer. Two stormtroopers walked by, carrying on a conversation.
"I don't care how good they are, I ain't havin my speeder fixed at a bodyshop in Mos Eisley. I'm shipping mine off to one far, far away from here. Somewhere where I know I won't be getting ripped off." The first one said.
"All right quiet down, we're supposed to be searching." The second one said looking around.
"Yea your right. Man, I'll tell you, I see this guy, I shoot first and arrest him afterwards." The first one said searching close to where Jarret was hidden.
"Not if you don't wanna get court marshalled you won't. The Lieutenant says he wants this guy alive, stun only. Orders came directly from Commissioner Greeth." Jarret looked through a hole in the box, listening in disbelief. Greeth? he wondered if they could be talking about Rengar Greeth. If so, he must have joined the Empire after Jarret left Tatooine.
"Whatever, unless I catch him with his back turned, I ain't promising anything." The first one said as they left.
Jarret kicked open the top of the box and climbed out. He reached in and retrieved his weapon. He made his way to the back entrance and opened the door. A shot rung out and Jarret was hit by wave of blue rings. He slumped to the ground unconscious. The stormtrooper stood up from his crouched position, his partner came in, looking at the trooper's prize.
"Like I said, catch him with his back turned."
*******
Rengar arrived at the Imperial Interogation Center in the middle of the night. He entered Jarret's cell. The man was slumped in an electro shock chair, hands and feet bolted down. There was a glass of water on a table several feet away. Rengar picked it up, and threw it in Jarret's face. The man woke up with a startle. Jarret looked at his surroundings. His eyes fell on Rengar. "You." was all he could say.
"Yes, me." Rengar replied with a smile.
"Why, why did you hunt me down? We were friends. Why are you treating me like a prisoner?" Jarret asked, showing anger for the first time since his father's death.
Rengar smiled again. "Because dear friend, you have something. At least you usedto. The metal box me and you stole all those years ago. The one we couldn't open. Where is it?"
"That? That's the reason you wanted me? A box?" Jarret asked. "Not so much the box, the contents of it. Inside were blueprints. Blueprints to a weapon. All I want is the box and I'll let you go. I'll even pay you, make it worth your while."
"Shove it." Jarret said coldly. Rengar pushed a button. The electro shock chair came to life. Jarret thrashed in pain.
"Come on Jarret, we're friends. There's no need for this senseless torture. Just tell me where the box is and you can go."
"I sold it, to a Jedi, years ago. He said he would keep it safe. You want your box, go find him."
Rengar sighed. He motioned to the guards. "Take him into a room and kill him. Make it quick, clean, and painless." He said. "Why is this weapon so important to you? It's not worth all this trouble." Jarret said.
Rengar smiled. "It's not just a weapon. This weapon will make whoever creates it a 'hero' of the Empire. A hand held rifle or blaster, with the same concentrated energy as a thermal detonater. Think of how much money and fame someone would achieve if they were ones who 'invented' it. It is worth capturing you. Hell, it was worth killing your father over."
Jarret craned his neck. "What did you say?"
"Thats right. Your father found out about the robbery at that scientist's home. He knew we stole it. He was going turn us in. But not before he lectured you about it. Little did he know you had run off to meet adventure, leaving a message on his holo cube. That bought me the time I needed to alert the patrol that your father was the thief. They arrested him, and in his interogation, he admitted that you stole the box. He would have only gotten several years in prison as an accomplice, if it weren't for the scientist. The scientist was working for the Empire. He was designing the weapon so that the Empire could move in on worlds like Tatooine. Small weak, and submissive. The Imperials moved in several months later and the scientist talked the new Imperial Governer of Tatooine to execute you father. A truly sad turn of events, but I suppose you did deserve to know, seeing as your going to die anyway. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have neglected my job for the day concerning this matter, and I need to catch up on my work." With that, Rengar turned and walked out the door, leaving a crazy hatefilled Jarret behind.
*******
They unbolted his arms and legs. Two guards
grabbed a firm hold of both his arms, and yanked him up. The took
him out of the room into a corridor. As they were walking Jarret
decided it was time to make his move. Putting his weight into it,
Jarret slammed his head into the first guard's face. He grabbed
the senseless guard by the shirt and hurled him into the second
one. It olny took 2 seconds, he had them both unconscious. He
took both their guns, along with several grenades, and headed
down the path after Rengar.
*******
Angry and frustrated that all this work had been for nothing, Rengar walked back to his personal transport. He entered, sat down, and made a drink. "Pilot, take me back to my quarters. Make it quick." The pilot turned around. "There'll be a slight delay." He said. Rengar's eyes widened. "Jarret!"
*******
Jarret flipped up his two weapons and fired. Rengar's bodyguards fell with slumps, blasters still in their holsters. He stood out of the pilot's chair, rifles pointed at Rengar. Rengar didn't move. His expression was undefinable. "Shoot me, and you'll never get out here alive. If you drop weapons now, I'll let you go, you'll leave this planet, and our paths will never cross again. Its either that or you die trying to escape from this torture chamber."
Jarret shook his head. "Wrong." he said pushing the engine ignition button. The transport shot off, crashing through the hanger door. Jarret put it on autopilot, and let it steadily increase altitude. "I'm a free man." Reacting with impressive speed, Rengar swung himself around the chair, just as Jarret's laser bolts struck where he used to be. Producing a blaster of his own. Regar began firing back at Jarret.
Jarret took cover. The exchanged fire for several seconds, as Rengar slowly backed towards the door. The imperial commissioner disapeared into the loading bay. Jarret followed.
*******
Jarret entered the loading bay. Rengar was nowhere to be seen. Blaster rifle in each hand, he began walking slowly down a corridor of bulkheads. He was half way down When Rengar came swinging out from under a bulkhead. He slammed into Jarret, disarming him. Jarret crashed into the wall. Rengar grabbed his shirt and sent a knee into his stomach. Jarret got slammed into the control console, activating the loading door. The door opened, and vicious winds blew in. Jarret staggered in front of the door. Rengar charged and tackled him. Both on the edge of falling off, Rengar wrapped his hands around Jarret's neck, trying to force him to fall off. Jarret brung his foot into Rengar's groin, flipping him over the edge, catching him by the shirt.
Rengar looked up at Jarret. He shook his head. "Go to hell."
"You first." Jarret said. He punched Rengar in the face, and the man fell into the black night of Tatooine.
*******
Three days later, Jarret was back in Chalmun the Wookie's cantina, talking with Kobalt.
"Hell of a story. I heard they caught you. Didn't think you were gonna make it." Kobalt said when he finished.
"I always do Kobalt."
"So let me ask you something. Did you really sell that box? That info could make you rich. You got it stashed somewhere?" Kobalt asked
"No, I destroyed it. I heard about my father's death. It was because of me and the robbery. After I knew that it was the box that had caused all the chaos, I blasted it. Never forgave myself for my father's death." Jarret answered looking into his drink.
"Wow. So I guess you'll be staying on Tatooine, giving up the hired gun business, huh?"
After a moment, Jarret looked up. "No, I booked tranport off this rock. I'll pick up my ship if I can. Then return to the mercenary business as usuall." Kobalt smiled. "Thats good to hear, cause man have I got a job for you......."