Planet of Darkness
by Kirayoshi
A Wretched Hive of Scum and Villany
[reviews]
Episode 2;
"A Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy."
Mos Eisley. One of the most disreputable places in the galaxy. If you need to locate a bounty hunter, obtain some information, or fulfill your desire to have your throat slit from ear to ear, this is the place. A dry flat city, in the middle of the dry flat planet of Tatooine, Mos Eisley is home to the derelicts, the drifters, the con artists, the fugitives and the disinherited of a thousand planets. And into this city, which a great man would many centuries later call "a wretched hive of scum and villainy" came the Correlian explorer Buf Somars and her droid companion XNDR-12.
"Stay frosty, Xander," Buf warned. "There are thieves and killers everywhere."
Xander looked around him, and observed, "Interesting choice of words, Buf. I don't think the native language has a word for frost."
"Funny, Xander," Buf griped. She scoped out some of the squat buildings around her, her eyes resting on a sign that read "Whistler's". She had met this Whistler before, a devil-headed Labrian who had offered her employment, free from the Hutts. She kept her eyes on his hands as they spoke, to make sure he didn't reach for a weapon or pick her pockets, but she was inclined to trust him more than she trusted the Hutt Consortium. "Looks like we'll have to take him up on his offer," she admitted.
"As long as it doesn't involve the Hutts," Xander conceded. The two figures walked into the bar, and found their nostrils assailed by strong odors; drinks being brewed, she thought at first, but later decided that Whistler simply didn't maintain regular hours to clean his establishment. Not that he ever seemed to have any customers to object anyway.
The fat Labrian raised his eyes from his task of wiping a glass with a dirty rag. [Buf!] he stepped out from behind the bar, embraced her hard, and generally greeted her like a long-lost, and suddenly wealthy, brother. [And you brought the tin toy with you!] he exulted, much to the droid's dismay. [He can entertain my clientele.]
[What clientele?] Buf asked, disengaging herself from the con-man's grasp. [From the looks of it, this place hasn't seen a turnover in business since the last time it rained here!]
[You've only caught me during my slack period,] Whistler explained hastily.
[Which started, as I recall,] Xander ribbed the fat fool, [just after you bought the place from the Hutts.]
[I don't think I like your attitude, friend,] Whistler flustered. [So you just go and get yourself dismantled like a good droid.]
[C'mon, Xander,] Buf growled, aiming her contempt at Whistler. [We don't need anything from him, not that he has anything to give.] Whistler stood, surprised as she and the droid left together. He sat alone in his bar, knowing that she was probably the only person who would set foot in his place all week.
"Good call, Buf," Xander affirmed. "Besides, I need to get out of here to clear the air."
"You're a droid," Buf said as they left the seedy establishment. "You don't breath."
"No," Xander answered, "but I do have olfactory sensors, and they were saying, 'get out now, or I won't be with you tomorrow'!"
Buf laughed at the thought, but soon found her attention drawn by another event. Trandoshan traders, large, long-limbed reptiles, had just started an auction, selling their wares. They were slavers, and their 'cargo' were captured Wookiees.
One large and angry slave was being dragged to the auction block, as the Trandoshan hissed out the beast's virtues. Buf raged as she saw this unconscionable act. She had been offered large sums of money to aid the Hutts in transporting slaves from other worlds to the Hutt Throne-world, but refused adamantly. She couldn't stand the sight of an intelligent being in chains. And that sight was greeting her at this very minute.
"Stay here, Xander," she ordered her droid. "After dealing with Fat-boy, I feel like kicking some butt." She quietly stole away toward the auction block, losing herself in the crowd. The auctioneer was shouting out for bids, and some of the crowd were offering increasing numbers of credits for the Wookiee.
"Seventy-five!" someone shouted. "Eighty!" someone else added. "Eighty-five!" "Ninety!"
"One hundred and fifty," Buf added quietly.
"The bid is one hundred and fifty," the Trandoshan announced. "Who'll say one-sixty?"
"One-sixty!" someone behind Buf said.
"Two hundred," Buf said calmly. The Bothan who had bid against her glared at her, her fur rippling his displeasure. Buf just smiled. No other bidders were forthcoming, and the auctioneer slammed his gavel down, announcing that Buf Somars had bought herself a Wookiee.
Buf approached the podium, to claim her prize. The Trandoshan hissed happily at her; [Just pay the two hundred credits, and he's all yours.]
[Oh dear,] she said, acting innocent, [I don't seem to have my credits with me. Perhaps you'll accept a knee to the groin, and a blaster in the kisser.] She proceeded to deliver just that, and as the angry reptile-man struggled to get up, she cuffed him again with the side of her blaster. [This auction's over, Lizard Boy. I'm taking the Wookiee with me, and if you try anything with me, I'll blast you into the next system. Do we have an understanding?] She went over to the Wookiee, and held out her arms, indicating to the hairy giant that he should do the same. He held his arms out in front of him, and she shot at the restraining cuffs with her blaster. The cuffs clattered to the ground, and the freed Wookiee raised his shaggy arms into the air, bellowing joyously.
"Buf!" Xander shouted. "Behind you!"
Buf turned, just in time for the Trandoshan to club her with his right arm, sending her tumbling off the auction dias. The Wookiee growled loudly in anger, and attacked the slavers, sending the audience gathered for the auction fleeing in a hundred directions. He then helped Buf to her feet, and gently inspected her to make sure she had been injured.
"I'm fine, friend," she tried to explain, then turned to Xander. "Your protocol circuits don't happen to know Wookiee, do they?"
"Certainly, Buf," he answered. "I am versed in over six million languages and dialects--"
"Great, Xander, I don't need the sales pitch. Just tell our friend that he's free to go, and if he needs help to locate his family, I can probably get him in touch with the authorities."
Xander turned to the Wookiee, and howled out her message in the beast's native language. The Wookiee responded in kind, and Xander translated; "Our new friend, Ossborca, is grateful for you help, and wishes to accompany us. And he can understand what you're saying, although he doesn't speak Correlian."
"Oh. Well. Uh, Oz, can I call you Oz, I like you and all, but I don't need any company. I barely have provisions for myself."
Oz moaned and bellowed some more, and Xander said, "He says that since you saved him from slavery, he owes you a 'life debt', in the custom of the Wookiee people. He feels obligated to join us, and protect you."
"Great," Buf said under her breath. "Look, Oz, thanks and all that, but I don't need a bodyguard. What I need now is someone who knows his way around a Correlian star drive." Oz beat his chest proudly at her words. "You know how to repair a star drive?"
Oz grunted affirmatively. "Well, maybe we can work together after all." The Correlian and her newfound friend began to talk some more, with Xander translating helpfully. They were unaware of the angry Hutt who had heard about the incident at the slave auction. The Hutt who planned to take his losses from the auction out of Buf's hide.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"This is Willa Sunrose, requesting clearance for the Vigilance to depart Coruscant airspace."
"Clearance granted, Willa Sunrose," the too-sweet computer voice chirped. Willa maneuvered the Vigilance for a clear take-off, and fastened her safety harness. "All systems nominal, Master Gy'les," she announced to her mentor.
"Then let us be off," said the Mon Cal Jedi.
With the flicking of a few switches, and moving of the steering mechanism, the Vigilance arrowed out of its hanger bay, and into the night sky over the northern hemisphere of the capital planet.
Willa always looked at the endless vistas of Coruscant with a strange mixture of awe and revulsion. Awe at the scope of this city, which encompassed an entire planet, and revulsion that there was no room for this central world in the galaxy for anything green and growing. Sure, there were parklands, trees planted at equal spaces among most streets and thoroughfares, but nothing wild, nothing truly natural.
As a child, she escaped the dry arid wastes of her homeworld Tatooine, because something inside her screamed to be among living things. She had considered striking out on her own, maybe the jungles and rain forests of Ithor, or the wild forests of Kashyyyk, or even the oceans of Mon Calamari. Anywhere where there was life.
It wasn't until her path had crossed that of Master Gy'les that she fully understood the truth about herself. Her desire to be among the living was an early manifestation of the Force within her. Gy'les knew that the Force was strong in Willa, and that she would make both a formidable and compassionate Jedi Knight. Despite her age(seventeen the day she stood before the Council, petitioning them for the privilege of being Gy'les Paduwan), Yoda sensed an innocence within her, free of fear and anger. Those things, he cautioned, were the path to the Dark Side of the Force.
All life in the universe contributed to the energy field that was the Force. Her desire to be among living things was an extension of her need to be one with the Force. Even amid the vast cityscapes that comprised the Coruscant skyline, the streets and thoroughfares were teeming with life. The desolation of Tatooine couldn't smother her desire to be part of that life, part of the Force. She needed to feel the Force the way she needed to breath.
The Vigilance began its ascent into escape velocity, and cleared the planet's atmosphere within minutes. Soon, it was free from the gravity well of Coruscant's sun, and Willa set the coordinates for the jump to sublight speed. She always felt a strange rush when the stars outside their view port turned into lines as the ship traveled at near-light speed. She took her mind off the ship for a while, and concentrated on her earlier visions.
What was it about this mysterious blond woman that mystified her so? Why should a woman whom Willa Sunrose never met should enrapture her heart like this? She meditated further on her, after taking her leave from Master Gy'les as he piloted the Vigilance, and learned more about her mysterious someone.
She knew that her name was Buf Somars, and that she was from the planet Correlia. An important world in the galaxy, it is often said that the Correlians have rocket fuel in their veins, as the desire to explore, to go out into space and seek adventure, seems deeply ingrained into the Correlian psyche. She was an explorer, like many of her people. A maverick, a bit of a rogue. And someone who was very important to her, in a way she couldn't define as yet. But she would know why. And soon.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Master," the scared woman cowered before the throne of the hooded man. "What would you have of me?"
The mysterious figure on the throne looked at her with dark eyes, that matched his dark countenance. He smiled at the young woman, laying supplicant before him. A smile without mirth, without heart, without soul. "Continue to serve me as you have done before, Dru'sil. That is what I would have of you."
"I have the information you require, Master," Dru'sil said to the hooded man. "The Jedi Council have sent two of their own to investigate the Suun'dyl wormhole. A Master Jedi named Gy'les, and his apprentice, Willa Sunrose."
"So the Jedi have finally noticed my Mouth of Darkness," the hooded man mused. "Good. I can deal with a few Jedi. Leave me, child, I will ponder the information you have given me." The woman left silently, leaving a powerful Sith Lord to contemplate his options.
He had been aware of events near the wormhole. He knew that there was a woman from his past, stranded on Tatooine, and that she was somehow destined to be a thorn in his side. Ever since he discovered his true power, his control of the Force, he knew that this showdown was coming. He also knew that he had to deal with the Jedi that were traveling to Suun'dyl. He couldn't allow that, not just yet. He needed a little more time to consolidate his power. He needed to stall the Jedi Knights. If he could destroy this pair of Jedi, so much the better.
"Spyk!" he shouted to his apprentice. Darth Spyk, the pale yellow haired Sith apprentice, appeared quickly before him, bowing with respect. "My liege," he addressed his Master. "What do you command?"
"There is a ship, of Mon Cal design, heading toward Suun'dyl," the Sith lord stated. "I do not want them to arrive there."
"Shall I destroy them, my liege?" Darth Spyk asked eagerly. His desire for destruction was known throughout the most shadowy regions of the galaxy.
"Just cripple them," answered the Sith Lord. "I want them to arrive at Suun'dyl eventually, just as soon as I prepare the proper welcome for them. Soon, they will know who is the real power in this galaxy."
As he briefed his apprentice, Darth Ang'lus knew that he would encounter the Jedi himself, soon enough. He relished the opportunity to destroy them.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"We'll be emerging from hyperspace soon, Willa," Gy'les announced. "Prepare for planetfall within twenty minutes."
"But it's too soon," Willa protested. "According to the star charts, Suun'dyl is still ten clicks away."
"The Vigilance is still being pulled into real-space," Gy'les said, as he read the instruments. "Evidentially there's a gravity well within our flight plan, like the pull of a large star."
"But there was no star near this area! I made out this flight pattern myself!"
"I know, child," Gy'les answered. "I don't doubt your skill as a pilot, but we're still being forced out of hyperspace. Hang on, emerging into real-space--NOW!" The starlines coalesced into pinpoints of light, and the Vigilance now flew at cruising speed.
"Willa," Gy'les barked. "Scan the immediate area, tell me what could have caused that gravity well?"
"There's your answer," Willa indicated after reading the scanners. "An artificial gravity generator operating from the planet Tatooine."
"I see," Gy'les agreed. "If that generator is still in operation, no ships in the area will be able to leave. And we need to shut it down to finish our journey to Suun'dyl."
"Preparing to land on Tatooine," Willa announced, unenthusiastically. She had no desire to visit the planet of her birth, and she certainly didn't want to trek through the desolate wastes of Tatooine again. She felt that there was nothing waiting there for her, no reason to return to her home so soon.
She was about to learn how wrong she was.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^