Planet of Darkness
by Kirayoshi
In My Experience, There Is No Such Thing As Luck.
[reviews]
Episode 3;
"In My Experience, There Is No Such Thing As Luck."
Buf Somars slammed her fist on the bar, and shouted to the bartender, "Two Dantoine Ales over here!"
The bartender grunted stiffly. "We don't allow droids here," he declared, regarding Xander with disgust. The XNDR unit, feigning a cool detachment, told Buf, "I'll just wait outside," before ambling on his treads out the door. Buf scowled at the bartender; Xander was more human, more sentient, than most beings she had encountered during her turbulent life. Her Wookiee companion, Ossborca, grunted understandingly, nodding at Buf. Buf turned her attention to Oz, and discussed their most recent failures at repairing the Slayer.
"So what you're saying," Buf repeated to make sure she understood the situation, "is that the Slayer works perfectly, but it still can't make escape velocity?"
Oz barked an affirmative. Buf let out an exasperated sigh. "Okay, Oz. So is there something else stranding us on this flyspeck?"
Oz barked again. Yes.
"Great," Buf said, mostly to herself. "I'm running dead on into the language barrier. So, what the hell is preventing the ship from departing?"
"An artificial gravity well, my friend," a clipped voice announced from behind her. Buf swung around, blaster at the ready, and saw a large, rose-colored being standing behind her. The being blinked its large yellow eyes and continued. "It seems, ma'am, that you are in the same dire straits as my companion and myself. I am Gy'les," he added, extending his clawlike hand in greeting.
Buf sized up the interloper at once, and decided that he didn't pose a threat. "Buf Somars of Correlia, captain of the Correlian cruiser Slayer. And Ossborca of Kashyyyk." Oz growled out an inarticulate greeting. Gy'les nodded in response. Buf noticed Gy'les' crude rope belt, and the device hanging from it. "A light saber, isn't it? You a Jedi Knight?"
"Jedi Master Gy'les, at your service," he answered, bowing formally.
"And a long way from Mon Calimari, to boot," Buf observed. "Tatooine must not agree with you."
"I must admit I prefer a wetter climate," Gy'les admitted. "Perhaps the three of us should talk. My companion and I have need of someone who knows their way around Tatooine. Someone who can handle a fight if it comes to that. Perhaps if we combined our resources, we could locate the gravity generator, and escape this planet."
"You must be hot to leave here," Buf commented. Oz grunted an agreement.
"Let's say that I have vital business to attend to elsewhere. And you seem as anxious to leave here as I am."
"True," Buf nodded. "However, my business to the outer rim has been cut short by my forced vacation to this little garden spot, and I don't know when my next client will call, so--"
"If it is a matter of money," Gy'les assured her, "I am sure that the Jedi Council, once they learn of your service, will gladly reimburse you whatever you deem fair."
"So I guess we got ourselves a deal." Buf stood up. "So you spoke of a companion? Do I get to meet him?"
"Her," Gy'les amended. "She should be along soon. She's a native of Tatooine, but hasn't been here in several years. Her name is Willa Sun--"
"Sunrose," Buf said suddenly, causing Gy'les to jump slightly. "Her name is Willa Sunrose, isn't it? Red hair, elfin smile, green eyes?"
"Yes," Gy'les pondered. "How did you know--" Before he could continue, Willa entered the tavern door, and stopped dead in her tracks upon seeing Buf Somars.
Buf stood thunderstruck as she gazed at her dream companion. Her flame-red hair, her jade green eyes, her sweet face. The face of innocence, but at the same time possessed of eternal wisdom. She radiated calm, serenity and peace, states of being that Buf Somars never knew but desperately wanted in her life. The redhead stood in a passive stance, but Buf could sense the coiled strength and purpose that lay beneath her humble appearance. It was her eyes, however, that described her true power. Green gemstones, gleaming with ancient knowledge, twinkling with secrets. Secrets that Buf Somars wanted so much to share.
Gy'les looked on as the two women slowly stepped toward each other. "You are Buf Somars, aren't you?" Willa asked timidly, as if saying the name would break the spell and shatter her vision.
The sight of the blond Correlian didn't drift away as her name was spoken. Instead, she looked into the young Jedi's eyes, and answered, "Yes, and you must be Willa Sunrose. So I finally get to meet the woman who's been haunting my dreams."
"And I meet the woman who has been in my visions," Willa added. "I must say that so far you're everything I had expected." She offered her hand to shake, which Buf accepted warmly. "Good to finally meet you," they said simultaneously, and laughed as they spoke.
"Well, my friends," Gy'les announced, breaking up the rapt concentration between the two women, who turned their eyes to glare at him. "Perhaps we could retire to your ship, Captain Somars."
"What good would that do?" the Correlian asked. "The Slayer works fine, according to Oz, but with this gravity well in place, we're stuck like Correlian firemoths in amber."
"If your ship is functioning properly," Willa suggested, "then are your planetary sensors working as well? The reason we ask is because our sensors were misaligned slightly when we crash-landed on Tatooine. We've been able to fully repair our ship, but our sensors are still down. If your sensors work, we can get a closer fix on the gravity well."
"Good idea, Sunrose," Buf announced. "Let's head out for the Slayer, and find that well."
[And how are you going to do that, Buf Somars,] a voice like shredded metal blasted from the doorway, [when you're not going to leave this bar alive?] The two Jedi and the Correlian turned toward the offending voice, and saw a pack of Trandoshans. The slaver whom Buf had earlier taken down led the pack, his lizard eyes gleaming with malice. [Take her! If her Jedi friends interfere, they die as well!]
Buf immediately grabbed her blaster, ready to pick off as many Trandoshans as she could before they made good on their threat. Ossborca knocked his chair away as he stood beside his new partner. Gy'les and Willa sat calmly beside the other two, seemingly blasé about the irate reptiles.
"Hello, my formidable friends," Gy'les greeted the Trandoshans. "Would you care to join us in a drink?" Buf Somars looked at them, amazed that they would consider inviting these slavers to drink with them. She noticed his waving his claw-like hand at the slavers, his voice the definition of calm. She wanted to scream at him, to get him to defend himself from these ruffians, but Willa Sunrose raised her hand to stop her. "Peace, Buf," she said serenely. "These Trandoshans have no desire to fight with us. Do you?" She pointed this last query at the lead Trandoshan, who slowly lowered his weapon.
He turned to his cohorts, and said, [We have no desire to fight with them.] The other reptilians looked around at each other, confused.
"There is no need for hostility between us," Gy'les stated calmly. "You have no business here. Be off with you."
The Trandoshans blinked quizzically, before filing out of the bar. Buf beheld the sight of six Trandoshan slavers, full of outrage and ready to sink their teeth into her flesh just seconds ago, now submissively following the orders of two unassuming Jedi. She regarded her new friends with awe and respect. "How--how did you--" she started to ask, faultingly, as she sat shakily next to Willa.
"The Force allows one to control the weaker minded," was Gy'les only explanation.
"The way of the Jedi Knights is not a path of war," Willa elaborated, "but one of enlightenment." She placed a gentle hand on Buf's, and the Correlian shivered at the contact. Was this seemingly frail red-haired beauty even remotely aware of the power she held over her? Did this young Jedi know how she was affecting Buf, merely by being in her proximity?
"Well," Buf coughed nervously, but didn't remove her hand from Willa's, "Thank you for the demonstration. Now then," she added, returning to business, "how do we find this gravity generator?" The four partners began to discuss their current predicament, not knowing that obsidian eyes regarded them with an almost joyous malice from behind a black hood. The hooded man left the bar quickly and quietly.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The Trandoshans were returning to their repulsor-lift, vaguely aware of an important errand they had set out to accomplish, when a stranger spoke from behind them; "Well, well, well, if it isn't the greatest collection of fools it has ever been my pleasure to meet." The six lizard-men turned on their heels, intent on making those words the last this stranger ever spoke.
The stranger stood before them, sheltered from the twin suns of Tatooine by a shop's awning, clad in a black cloak that covered his entire body. He lifted the hood from his head with skeletal hands, revealing a gaunt, ashen face, and bright yellow spikes of hair on his head. His eyes were black irises set amid gray, with a pinpoint of glowing red in each pupil. Hunter's eyes, the Trandoshans recognized them. Predatory, feral, evil.
"Why, in the name of all you believe," the stranger continued, "would you simply let the woman who cost you your prize catch, that magnificent Wookiee of yours, to slip away from you? She interfered with your livelihood, gentlemen. This cannot go without challenge!" The lead slaver looked around at his compatriots, and saw in their eyes that this man's words were reaching them. Yes, this Buf Somars cost them dearly. She should be made to pay with her life.
"Now then," the stranger continued, knowing that he had these miserable lizard-men eating out of the palm of his hand, "I am prepared to pay you handsomely for that beast, if you can reapprehend it. Simply eliminate Somars, and her new friends, and the Wookiee shouldn't be too difficult to handle. Without his companions, he will prove to be most docile." He knew that wasn't true, but these slavers didn't strike him as the intelligent type. "Bring him to me in," he mimed looking at a pocket chronometer, "one tenth of a cycle, and this," he withdrew a handful of credit notes from his cloak, "will be yours."
The reptiles fairly drooled at the sight of so much currency, and immediately returned to the tavern, their rage to strike back at the Correlian who dared to mock them returned.
The hooded man smiled at his handiwork. Darth Spyk didn't care who did his dirty work, as long as he could acquire the right muscle for the job. And using the Dark side of the Force to cloud their minds while firing up their blood was all too easy.
"Fools," he sneered contemptuously at the reptiles. He didn't care what happened to them, so long as the two Jedi were stalled.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Buf Somars listened intently to Willa Sunrose as the young Jedi retold the journey of her life to the Correlian. Buf could have listened to that sweet voice, like small chimes to her ears, for all of eternity. As they, with Oz, Xander and Gy'les, made their way to where Willa and Gy'les had left their speeder bikes, they had chatted like lifelong friends. Buf had grown amazed at how at ease she felt around Willa.
They had also spoken about the visions they shared of each other prior to their meeting, without mentioning the more intense emotions that accompanied them. Buf wouldn't admit this to anyone, but she was afraid of the feelings she might be developing for this young woman. She came from a society that didn't consider gender issues in matters of the heart, but she had never allowed herself to become attached to anyone else. She lived alone and it suited her fine. She wasn't sure she could share her life with another, or that another would want to share that life.
Willa herself was uncertain about her feelings for Buf. She couldn't deny the attraction to this compelling woman. She was drawn to her like a compass needle to magnetic north. And the fact that this woman had seen her in visions, before they even met. Willa found herself wondering, was this woman in tune with the Force? Could she be a potential Jedi? She knew that the council would probably not approve, siting that she was too old to train as a Jedi. But still, if she had the potential, it would be a shame to waste it. Perhaps she should discuss this with Gy'les later.
"Willa," Gy'les interrupted her wandering thoughts. "It occurs to me that we only brought the two speeder bikes with us. Will our new friends be forced to walk all the way to their ship?"
"I am equipped with repulsor lifts in my treads," Xander announced. "I was built for exploring rugged terrain, and my designers thought that it might be easier for me to be able to hover where I couldn't roll."
"And Buf can ride with me," Willa volunteered brightly. Buf was surprised at her offer, but didn't want to refuse it.
"I suppose that could work," Gy'les suggested. "My speeder bike is equipped with a side-car which should accommodate our hirsute friend," he added, indicating Oz. "How fast can you travel with your repulsors, Xander?"
"I can keep up with you, Gy'les," Xander stated proudly. "I've made a few modifications outside of my manufacturer's specs."
"Okay, it's settled," Willa said. "Let's head out of here--" She suddenly stopped in her tracks, and Gy'les and Buf both noticed the serious expression on her face. "Something is wrong, Gy'les," she whispered. "I'm sensing the Dark Side ahead."
Gy'les looked ahead of their path, and concentrated. "Yes, child," he agreed. "We'd best be careful." Even Buf, who to Gy'les knowledge had no affinity for the Force, seemed to sense a wrongness ahead of them. They ventured forward slowly, Buf and Oz two paces behind the two Jedi and the droid, watching their backs.
The ambush was quick and brutal. The six Trandoshans jumped them from all sides. The leader attacked Buf, who drew her blaster just quickly enough to fend off her attacker. She fired two bolts from her blaster, winging the beast in the right shoulder. He howled in pain, and staggered toward Buf.
Oz immediately clubbed the leader with his mighty paw, bellowing his rage that this monster who had enslaved him earlier now tried to harm the one whom he was honor-bound to protect. His eyes flashed green fire, and his canine teeth gleamed in the light of two suns.
Gy'les and Willa, meanwhile, were prepared for the melee, as they loosed the handles of their lightsabers. Willa pushed Xander out of the line of fire as the Trandoshans advanced, and then they drew their blades, glowing brightly with their deadly energies. They feinted at first, as the slavers fired their blasters at the two Jedi. They maneuvered their sabers in front of them, the blades effectively reflecting the shots away from them. One deft move from Gy'les deflected a blaster shot directly at the shooter's hand, forcing him to drop his weapon as he winced in pain. Willa smiled at her mentor, and calmly executed a like move, disarming her opponent. They stood their ground as their attackers gradually lost their courage. They hadn't expected their prey to fight back, certainly not as effectively as they had.
"I will say this once," Gy'les intoned, regarding the slavers with righteous ire. "You will leave here, and never again do harm to our companions. They are under the protection of the Jedi Knights." Hearing these words, the Trandoshans lost the last of their resolve, and departed peaceably. Buf and Oz glared at the reptiles, and fought off the urge to shout back at them. They had won this battle, and they had no desire to start another.
Xander emerged from the doorway into which he had been pushed and, shaking his head, asked, "Is it over?"
Buf smiled at Willa and Gy'les, saying, "I am impressed. I never saw anything like that before."
"The Force guided our hands, Buf," Willa observed sagely, "and brought us victory this day."
"The Force, eh?" Buf asked her new companions.
"You sound skeptical, my friend," Gy'les noted.
"I wonder how much of that was just luck."
"In my experience, Buf Somars," Gy'les countered without malice, "there is no such thing as luck."
"Perhaps, Gy'les." Brushing the dust off of her pants with her hands, she announced, "I tend to be skeptical about what I can't see, hear, touch, taste or smell, but after what I saw today, I'm prepared to keep an open mind."
Willa nodded in acceptance, and then said, "We'd better get moving before our buddies get their courage back. Shall we?" Buf and Willa smiled at each other and led the way to the speeder bikes.
They didn't notice that their departure was being watched keenly by two glittering pale yellow eyes. "Damn lizard-men," Darth Spyk muttered in disgust. It galled him to use lesser beings to test the limits of these Jedi Knights, but he knew that he couldn't face them himself, not while the twin suns of Tatooine blazed so brightly at midday. Wait for the night, Spyk consoled himself. Then his strength would be at its zenith, and he could eliminate the threat of the Jedi himself.
As for Buf Somars, he would have to discuss her fate with Darth Ang'lus. No doubt his master would have special plans for her.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The ride from Mos Eisley to the Slayer went without incident. Oz sat uncomfortably in the cramped side car attached to Gy'les bike, and if he was uncomfortable sitting next to the hairy Wookiee, the Jedi master kept it to himself. Xander flew alongside the two speeder bikes, keeping up well enough.
Buf rode with Willa, her arms wrapped securely around the young Jedi's waist. Willa blushed slightly at the contact, but was secretly thrilled by this closeness. It had been a long time since she felt close to another, and she certainly never thought she could feel so safe and secure with someone she had only met less than an hour ago.
Ah, but you met her long before then, a voice cajoled her from the back of her mind. You've known her from the moment you were conceived. She is your other half. Your soulmate. Only with her will you be complete.
She brushed these thoughts aside for now. She had to concentrate on the task at hand. She and Gy'les had to find the gravity generator that was imprisoning their ship on Tatooine, and once the gravity well was eliminated, she and Buf would, in all likelihood, part ways.
That thought filled her with inexpressible sorrow, and she tried to push it out of her mind again. She concentrated on the terrain in front of them, on piloting her speeder bike safely, and on the strong, slender arms that encircled her.
May the Force grant, she prayed wordlessly, that Buf and I not part quickly.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Once they arrived at the Slayer, Buf headed directly for the navigation computer in the central cockpit. She programmed the nav-comp to locate any anomalous gravitational spots, as well as sources of energy output, because she knew that any gravity generators would require vast amounts of energy to maintain.
While Buf waited by her nav-comp, Gy'les noticed a restive Willa. "Is there something troubling you, Willa?" he asked his Paduwan.
"Not really," she shrugged. "I just keep thinking of Buf. She's so pragmatic. Not quite what I imagined."
"And yet, she's so much more, isn't she?"
Willa looked into the wise countenance of her mentor. "Yeah, she is. Do you think that she may be Force-sensitive?"
"I was wondering the same thing," Gy'les mused. "I suspect that she may be. After all, she seemed to have visions of you similar to the ones you claim to have had of her."
"True, true. But would the Council allow her to train as a Jedi? She's at least as old as I am. And when I first petitioned the Council to make me your paduwan, many of them protested that I was too old, even then."
"Willa," Gy'les reminded her, "we have much to accomplish on Suun'dyl before we meet with Council again. I think that it may be wise to test her blood for midiochlorines. If they are present in her system, then we will have our answer. Then we can deal with the ramifications."
"Thank you, Master Gy'les." Willa smiled sweetly at Gy'les, who simply nodded.
Willa left her mentor, and climbed the ladder to the cockpit. She saw Buf with Xander, as Oz sat in the co-pilot's seat, checking various instruments. The Wookiee was evidently a pilot prior to being enslaved by the Trandoshans. He certainly knew his way around a Correlian freighter's instrument panels.
"Hey, Buf," she asked, causing the young Correlian to turn her head. "Any luck?"
"Yeah, Willa," she answered. "Not good luck, though. And I thought you and Gy'les didn't believe in luck."
"Gy'les and I have debated strenuously on the subject," Willa stated simply. "Did you find the gravity generator?"
"Yeah, and you're not going to like it." Buf punched a button next to her view screen. The screen lit with a map of the surrounding deserts. "The generator is situated some fifteen kilometers from here, south by southeast."
"So," Willa looked puzzled. "If it's not so far, we could shut it off immediately."
"Not likely," Buf fumed. "It's located on property claimed by the Hutt Consortium. And the communiqués I received make it less likely that we'll be able to saunter in unannounced. The figurehead for this operation is an especially unsavory character named Snydaa." She looked at the map again, sighing in exasperation.
The last thing she wanted to deal with today was the return of Snydaa. But if asked, she would love to be the one to make him pay for what he did to her, for trying to force her to work for him. If he was responsible for her being trapped on this flyspeck of a planet, then vengeance was called for.
And vengeance will not be denied.