#swffg

Brutak left Iridonia to travel with this wandering tribe of Zabraks. It was normal for Zabraks to form tribes and wander out further into the galaxy, the most notable one being the Night Sisters. This one was travelling for different reasons though. They had heard about how the republic had taken care of the Night Sisters and regarded this as good news. They thought it good because the Night Sisters were notorious for their strange experiments on abducted Zabraks. When the republic shifted into the Galactic Empire, they feared the worst and set out. They would learn soon afterwards that they were right, for the Empire sought to bring the species of rebellious aliens under boot.

The tribe was known as the Starspikes and they lived on a space vessel. Few of them would leave the vessel when it was docked planetside to gather supplies and credits. Those who left often were a mercenary company going by the name of Starspikes so that they could work with any bounty hunting guilds that accepted them. As a young man, Brutak would set out with two “brothers'' to work as a trio. It was most often them that formed the Starspikes.

To keep things coherent with any tales told about them, they wore black armor and went by code names. Brutak was known as Ortega while the other two were brothers Gaia and Mash. Gaia often took the lead on the missions since he was the oldest and knew how to best secure deals. Anyone acting as Gaia would have the leadership role, but as far as Brutak knew, no one else ever used the codename Gaia besides his “brother.” Mash was the second oldest and he was the strongest of the bunch, so he served better for intimidation and backed up on those deals. The codenames Mash and Ortega would be used by others, but it was always Gaia and Mash that went to accept missions. Whoever had the codename Ortega would just wait for them to reconvene and hear the plan for the mission. Just as Brutak often did.

Brutak was currently meditating on his past. Meditation was a strange ritual he had seemingly adopted out of nowhere. He picked up on it in their travels and found that it brought him a lot of peace to simply meditate at times. He could swear that if he reached a very deep and calm state of meditation, he could hear the universe trying to speak to him. It was written off by any elders he talked to about it, but sometimes in his dreams he could swear the same thing.

As he reflected back, a specific instance reached out to him. It was one he thought about every so often, feeling a special connection to it. When he was younger on the ship and had started learning how to meditate, he would get strange looks from the other Zabraks in the Starspike tribe. One time he overheard people talking about someone named Koth and how a great tragedy is said to have befell them. He stepped forward into their room to approach them.

“Who is Koth? Was the tragedy on him or from his actions?” Brutak asked with great curiosity.

“Koth? Oh no, we were talking about Hoth, young warrior,” chuckled the older Zabrak.

The other one nervously looked to Brutak, “You just misheard us, kid.”

“What is the tragedy of Hoth?”

“It’s uhm… It was a beautiful world, but now it’s frozen. Shouldn’t you be practicing combat or something, kid?”

Brutak was so certain he had heard them talking of Koth’s tragedy, but none would admit to him such a thing existed.

Brutak was awoken from his meditation as Gaia and Mash returned to the ship. Brutak would get up to greet them and ask how it went. As usual, they’d say it went well enough and now they have work to do. Their latest mission involved spice traders with a secret facility that would need some guarding.

“A leak has informed these smugglers that some Empire scouts will be flying by to check out the area from an anonymous tip,” spoke Gaia. “We’ve been hired to deal with them in any way that ends with their secret base remaining secret.”

Brutak felt ease at hearing the main goal was to keep the base secret. He knew this was partially because he did not like to kill. Gaia was willing to work with him on this “strange nicety” he had developed, though sometimes it was not to be helped if it involved defeating stormtroopers. Mash scoffed as Gaia spoke of dealing with them in “any way.”

“It would be easiest to simply blow up their ships as they pass through,” Mash grumbled.

“But then they might want to send more knowing that something out there took out their patrol. More enemies for the next mission and that’s if we’re here for it,” replied Brutak, better known as brother Ortega to them.

“Ortega, that would just be better business for us and more blood to spill to prove our strength,” Mash said through gritted teeth. “I swear your weakness will be the death of us one day. You’ll show mercy and they’ll show vengeance or trick you in a way that hurts us all.”

“I wouldn’t betray you guys, Mash!” Ortega shouted.

“You know not how to control your emotions and outbursts! You are a fake Zabrak, somehow born into the skin of our kind but truly not one of us!”

“That’s enough, Mash. Ortega can do enough to get the job done. We work together as a great team and the three of us have perfected the Jet Stream Attack formation. So set aside your differences and let’s actually plan how we’re going to earn these credits,” Gaia said with his usual commanding voice.

Despite the booming and gruffness of Gaia, Brutak still felt depressed about what Mash said. It was the usual attitude he expected from Mash, but he felt truth in his words whenever he declared Brutak to be different from everyone else. That something about him was fake. It made him wonder if this was why his parents sent him away. Despite the deep hurt he felt at these comments, he tried to never act on it. Something in him drove him to drive the pain down and show him a neutral grace.

They discussed their plans for how to handle the mission. It was going to be a simple setup. They’d arrive at the space station A Baoa Qu which was disguised as a large asteroid cluster. The disguise would hold up as long as none of the ships actually went to dock on the asteroids for any reason. The Starspikes would set up on the outside and watch for the people coming through. Once they saw them, they’d divert them away and make like they were caught doing an illegal run. After getting the fleet to chase them into an asteroid field, they’d evade the group and pick off any stragglers. If any of them put up a fight further than that, they’d shoot at vital systems on the ships, forcing them to group up to rescue those from the failing ships.

The Starspikes set out their plan and it was all going accordingly. Their ship, a modified Star Courier repainted to black like their armor, was stationed in a hidden spot while they waited. Eventually three Empire scouts piloting Tie Scout ships came into their territory. It was just as the leak suggested meaning they were here to check up on the information that had been given to them. The Starspikes waited for them to pass and then revealed themselves, firing on the ship in the back. Brother Ortega gasped as Mash chuckled heartily, fueled with adrenaline from the upcoming battle.

One of the Tie Scouts seemed to stutter before it began to haphazardly wobble through space, weaving a trail of smoke out from behind it. The secondary Tie Scout followed behind it to rescue the pilot as he made an emergency ejection. The leader of the scouts banked towards the Starspikes’ ship and the chase began. Ortega ran through the ship to the front where Gaia was piloting.

“Don’t start with me, Ortega. Get back there and focus on those scanners,” shouted Gaia as he piloted them through the asteroid field. “The pilot will live. See to it that we do too.”

The two remaining Tie Scouts chased them into the asteroid field. Lasers flew through the area, some of the shots coming close to banking off their wings. Ortega shouted coordinates to Mash of asteroids to shoot while also shouting warnings to Gaia of incoming asteroids. The chase felt like it was lasting forever, each second stretching into eons for Ortega as he watched lasers and rubble fly.

Once through the asteroid field, the Starspikes continued to lead them away farther from the secret space station. The chase continued out in the open space where the danger was far greater than navigating the asteroid fields. Gaia constantly swung the ship back and forth as they performed several rolls and sways. Laser fire would occasionally dart past the ship now that they had no cover to hide behind. Mash was making steady bursts of lasers at the ships, some of his shots barely grazing the enemies but successfully keeping them inaccurate as well. Ortega watched on the scanners with worry as he tried to keep his trust in Gaia’s plan.

“Damn it, if only we held still for a minute, I’d shoot them both out of the sky!” shouted Mash.

“We just need to keep them moving around,” spoke Ortega.

“Sure thing, kid,” he replied sarcastically.

Suddenly the ship rocked violently as a muffled explosion sounded through the ship. Mash began to fire wildly as Ortega ran to investigate. Their engine had been hit and severely damaged. He ran to the front to tell Gaia amidst the alarm going off on the ship.

Gaia was struggling at the controls, fighting against spinning out of control. Ortega rushed to his side to help him as they veered off into space. They heard Mash roar a successful yell from the back, declaring he got one. Ortega could only focus on helping Gaia guide them to a nearby planet.

Their ship made a bumpy crash landing as they slid into a valley amidst a strange mountainous region. Ortega heard the slam of Mash in the back, falling out of his gunner cockpit and into the hall. Gaia and Ortega looked at each other, making a quick scan to see how they were. Gaia’s helmet had been cracked and he was banged up by the landing. Ortega was sore, but overall he was fine. He pulled out a medpac and handed it to Gaia as he went to check on Mash.

In the back he found Mash was unconscious and his helmet had fallen off. The man was a pale yellow Zabrak with small horns and long purple hair. He tried shaking him awake, but the best he got was mumbled words about “got the bastard.” Looking up, Ortega saw one of the Tie Scouts speeding across the sky with a dark voluminous trail of smoke behind it. Ortega looked back to Mash with a scowl and lifted him up to carry him to the cockpit. Ortega wasn’t the strongest of the bunch, but his strength still had a significant difference from the average Zabrak.

“I think they’re making emergency landings on the other side of the mountain,” spoke Ortega as he set Mash on a seat in the back of the cockpit.

Gaia swore under his breath as he applied the contents of the medpac to a wound on his skull. Ortega looked over at him, Gaia had removed his helmet revealing his dark red skin and black hair. It was kept short and in rows between his horns. One of his horns had broken. Ortega knew it would grow back in time, but that there would be shame.

“We have to find them,” he said with a flat tone. “Go do recon while I get Mash back on his feet.”

Ortega nodded and promptly left the ship with some scanning equipment. He headed in the direction of the smoke and wandered into the surrounding mountain. As he moved further in, his equipment started becoming unreliable. Out of nowhere it started to lead him in circles, like he was being drawn back to caves in the sides of the mountain instead of through them towards the pilots.

As he got ready to start navigating without the equipment, he felt a strange sensation. Like he was being drawn to the caves through the calling of an ethereal force. Removing his helmet, he felt he could hear it more clearly. He set his helmet by the entrance of the cave as he listened. Ortega followed, giving in to the strange instinct of his gut, and began to explore the caves. Armed with a simple light he tried his best to not get lost.

Some time later, he found a strange temple. The markings he didn’t recognize, yet he could understand it was a ritual of some kind. There were images depicting robed men of varying species wielding a hilt that emitted a blade of light. He took his light and tried to mimic it, feeling in tune with everything as he did so. He practiced in the cave as he walked through it, feeling like a lesson was being handed down to him. Finally he reached a circular room with a raised platform in the middle.

Taking a deep breath, he went to the middle of the room and sat down. He turned off his flashlight, trapping himself within the darkness of the room. He began to meditate as he had done so many times before, such as before their mission started. Time seemed to drag on as he sat in the dark, simply clearing his mind and opening it to any suggestions.

The room began to glow around him and rocks began to levitate. He could hear the sudden whoosh of a rising wind around him. Ortega remained still as he focused, opening his mind to a sign. He thought about Koth.

“Brutak,” a distant voice whispered.

Brutak began to open his eyes.

“What am I?” he replied.

“Ortega!” a closer voice shouted.

The wind became still, the rocks clattered to the ground, and the glow faded away.

“Ortega, are you lost? You miserable gravel-maggot,” the voice shouted again.

Quickly flicking back on his light, Brutak got up from the podium and dashed out of the temple. A few moments later, he found Gaia and Mash with lights near the front of the cave.

“There you are,” Gaia spoke. “For a moment I thought you got caught in a cave-in.”

“No, sir,” replied Ortega.

Mash jammed Ortega’s helmet into his chest, knocking an “oof” out of him.

“We found your helmet,” Mash barked. “Don’t lose it again unless you don’t want us to find you, gravel-maggot.”

“I thought there was a creature in there,” Ortega lied, “I was trying to make sure it wasn’t something that could ambush us. My scanners show the pilots should be just over the range.”

“Good. Let’s make sure they can’t report back to their command and scrap their parts to repair the Nebula-glaive.”

“What if they’re looking for us? Let’s just wait to bash em when they come through,” spoke Mash.

“Not likely, Mash,” replied Gaia. “No doubt they’re trying to repair their ship now to search for us with air superiority. Let’s not give them the chance.”

Following the smoke and scanners, the Starspikes crew marched through the mountains. On the other side they found another valley, this one having more trees and greenery in its environment. It didn’t take them long to find the crashed ships in a clearing. One of them had holes in it from Mash’s shooting and the other had crashed into trees. Two of them were clearing debris from the ship as the other rested against it. He had bandages around his arm and face.

“Let’s take them out now, we have no choice,” said Mash with glee as he grabbed his blaster.

Gaia laid his hand over the blaster, “Missing crew means reinforcements.”

“We can take them. It’s three to two. Plus no one has beaten our signature move,” remarked Ortega.

“We knock them out and then what? Strand them to await those reinforcements?” spat Mash.

“We’ll knock them out and then keep them aboard the Nebula-glaive. We’ll make like our hideout has been compromised and dump them somewhere they can buy a new ship so to not make enemies with the Empire.”

Ortega nodded. Mash grumbled but then gave a “yes sir” before following orders. The three of them moved in quickly with combat sticks. They fired off their jetpacks and rushed in a straight line. The two pilots looked up in shock as Mash came barrelling down on them. He struck one of them across the head and to the ground. The other dodged to the side, but right behind Mash was Ortega. He lunged at the pilot, but he missed and barrelled past him. Finally Gaia came crashing into the dirt and sweeped his legs up with the combat stick. With the pilots on the ground, Gaia stood over them with his blaster drawn.

“We don’t want trouble with the Empire.”

“Well you’re in for it now! Do you know who that is!?” cried the one clutching his arm.

“Quiet, Gamspen,” commanded the one taken down by Gaia.

“We just need your parts. Then we’ll take you off to the closest port and part ways,” continued Gaia.

“No one has to die today,” Ortega added.

“But I’ll gladly see to it that someone does,” spoke Mash.

“You have the upper hand it seems,” spoke the pilot. “But you will pay for this.”

Mash leaned in to grab the mouthy one by the collar. As he did so, he raised his blaster and fired. They looked to see him shooting at the injured pilot. The man’s face turned white as he dropped the blaster he had been picking up.

“Hajonn, just surrender,” commanded the other one.

The man raised his good arm and stayed where he was. Mash looked back to the one he picked up.

“Why’s the old man so important?” Mash growled.

Gaia was already tying up the older one and handed rope to Ortega to tie up the injured one. They both looked to Mash as the man simply kept quiet. Mash shook the pilot.

“I said, why is he so important, huh!?” Mash shouted.

“I’m Commander Mabarah Revil,” spoke the older one.

“Terrabast! An Empire Commander?!” Mash shouted aiming his blaster.

Ortega panicked as he watched Gaia draw his blaster too.

“That is a problem,” spoke Gaia.

“W-wait,” called Ortega. “Maybe he’s more valuable to us alive.”

“Getting involved with capturing a commander is going to make more trouble for us than a simple hand off at a port,” spoke Gaia.

“We can ransom him back or something. Or maybe the rebels will pay for him.”

Revil kept a stern gaze as they debated his fate. Zabrak took a deep breath and then looked intently at Gaia, feeling a sudden calm guiding him.

“We need him alive,” spoke Brutak.

Gaia stood for a moment as if seriously taking in what was being said.

“We need him alive,” he repeated, lowering his blaster.

“Are you kidding me!?” shouted Mash, tossing down the other pilot. “Am I the only around here who doesn’t have womp rats for brains?”

It was some time later that they managed to get all the parts they needed for the ship. While they did repairs, Ortega would wander off to the caves to try and find the temple again. Once he found it again, he went back in to explore more. He tried to meditate, but it just didn’t seem to click this time. So he spent more time practicing with his flashlight the techniques he saw in the carvings on the wall.

Eventually his comm crackled to life as they radioed in that it was time for them to go. Ortega returned promptly and the Nebula-glaive fired back up. Gaia secretly communicated with their employers to let them know that their mission was successful and they’d be around for their credits in a few days. During this time, they flew off to the closest spaceport. Once there they released the two Empire scouts, stripped of their uniforms. Their best hope was that the men would either abandon their posts or take so long to return their call to the Empire that the Starspikes would be long gone.

Afterwards they picked up their payment from the spice pirates, obviously keeping it a secret that they had a new prisoner of their own. Ortega was assigned to guard duty as Gaia took them to another space port, this time trying to find any rebel contacts to figure out ransoming the Commander. Mash stayed on board incase of any complications to help with guard duty as needed.

A few days later, Ortega tried speaking with the prisoner.

“So, who do you work for?” asked Ortega.

“You know I work for the Empire, serving the glory of our Emperor,” replied Mabarah Revin.

“Yes, but I mean, you must have a higher up, right?” asked Ortega.

“That’s classified information.”

“Who am I going to tell?”

“It’s valuable information.”

“Well I’m really curious as to why they’d send a high ranking Commander like yourself out on a simple scouting mission,” pondered Ortega.

“I wanted to be in the field. The information came by suspiciously and I needed to be there in case of any rebel surprises,” he spoke plainly.

“Oh hey, you do share sometimes,” joked Ortega.

“You seem more relaxed than your colleagues about this.”

“Well… It’s a complicated matter with us.”

“I would really like something to eat.”

Ortega was caught off guard by the request and stared at him for a moment.

“Are you serious?”

“We hadn’t eaten before the mission. Now your leader only allows me a share of a ration per day. Who knows what the rebels will feed me. If they feed me.”

Ortega winced at the idea that they’d be trading him off just for someone else to bring down the metaphorical axe on him.

“Yeah, just… give me a moment,” Ortega said before standing up from his seat.

Ortega went out to the cockpit where Mash was currently sitting. Almost instantly Mash stood up with a blaster in hand.

“The prisoner, did he-?!”

“It’s fine, Mash. I’m just hungry. I won’t be any longer than when I use the bathroom,” Ortega said as he grabbed some food.

Mash glared at him as Ortega left the cockpit and back to the quarters they were keeping Commander Revin in. When he entered, he saw Revin’s eyes light up at the sight of some real food. Ortega set the bread aside as he undid a single and moved it to a nearby pipe. With one hand free, Revin was able to accept and eat the bread.

“This tastes far better than the Polystarch Bread they give us in our ration packs,” remarked Revin.

“I didn’t know there was worse bread than what we have,” remarked Ortega.

“Rear Admiral Jerjerrod says the veg-meat is a test of character for new recruits. Separates the devoted from the pretenders amongst the Stormtroopers.”

“That sounds like valuable information,” spoke Ortega.

“You paid with valuable bread,” replied Revin.

“So is Jerjerrod going to hunt you down and rescue you from those rebels?” asked Ortega.

“I’m sure he’ll send out a crew to find me. They’ll be hunting you, but if you just tell them where I’ve been left at, I’m sure they won’t make trouble for you.”

“I doubt anyone will find us, but if the Empire is as strong as they say, they’ll track you down no problem.”

A little bit later, it was getting to be Mash’s turn for watch over Revin. As Ortega was getting up to get the door for him, Revin coughed and motioned with his free hand.

“Ah right. I’ll need to fix that or he’ll kill me.”

Ortega leaned in and Revin moved his hand back by the cuff. As he undid the cuff around the pipe, suddenly Revin jammed his shoulder into Ortega’s face. Disoriented, he leaned back and then Revin grabbed the key out of his hand. He quickly undid one of the cuffs on his feet and stood up to knee Ortega in the face.

“Pathetic,” he remarked as he rushed to the door.

Ortega quickly got up after him as the door opened.

“Gravel-maggot, what’s takin-” Mash began, cut off by surprise at Revin at the door.

Revin quickly snatched the blaster from his hand and rapidly fired it into Mash’s gut and his leg. He doubled over as Ortega rushed behind Revin. Ortega chased after him until he made out the exit hatch and into the garage hangar they were parked in. He stopped for a moment as he heard the groans of pain behind him. He grit his teeth and turned back to tend to Mash.

He radioed Gaia after patching up Mash and let him know they had trouble with Revin and that he escaped. When Gaia returned he was furious.

“How the hell did this happen?!” he hollered looking over Mash.

“He needs a doctor,” spoke Ortega. “The prisoner he… he got my key and took me by surprise.”

Gaia took off his helmet and threw it across the room before marching up to Ortega.

“Don’t lie to me. How the hell could a man with cuffs around his feet and hands manage to grab a key from you? Even if he got a hand free, how could he get close enough to you without you breaking every bone in his body as a consequence for his foolish actions?”

Ortega looked away and Gaia shoved him into the wall. Ortega was startled and looked up to get a kick in the stomach. He doubled over and Gaia grabbed him by the back of his neck and brought him into the hallway.

“Remove the armor,” he commanded.

Ortega began to remove the armor, feeling anger boil up in him. How could Gaia do this to him? Mash needed help and here he was getting ready to do ritual combat for honor or some other nonsense. It wasn’t his fault that the Empire hires such conniving officers. He felt so betrayed. He showed the man kindness and this was what he did to him? And now his leader was kicking him around with a bunch of sucker punches?

Ortega looked up with anger as he stood in his simple clothes, a pile of black armor next to him. He motioned to Gaia to do the same.

“Oh no, that’s not what we’re doing,” Gaia said as his jetpack fired up.

“What?” Ortega asked with shock as Gaia slammed into him, knocking him onto his back.

Gaia grabbed him by the shirt collar and dragged him to the exit hatch. Ortega felt himself get lifted and tossed, tumbling onto the pavement of the garage. He scrambled to his feet as the hatch closed. He slammed himself against it and banged a fist against the door.

“No wait! I’m sorry, Gaia! Please! I can make things right!”

“Mash needs a doctor,” replied Gaia from the other side as he walked back to the cockpit.

Ortega ran over to the cockpit and began to beat on the glass. Mash groaned and turned, barely opening his eyes to see what was happening.

“I’m going to take him back to see a doctor. It’s unfortunate that you died out here,” Gaia said pausing for a moment to look Ortega in the eyes. “Brutak.”

“I can make things right!” he shouted again, slapping at the glass.

“Piss off, gravel-maggot,” choked out Mash with a grin, then long groans of pain.

The ship’s engines fired up and it rose into the air. Brutak felt the sting of no longer being called his “brother” name. He was officially outcast from the Starspikes mercenary group. But now he was about to lose his family again. Separated from his family back home, separated from his new family on the Starspikes tribe ship, and now kicked from his mercenary brothers.

“Don’t leave me!” he shouted up at them as they rose into the air.

Something welled up inside of Brutak in that moment. That calming sensation he had known before swirled around him like an angry whirlwind in his mind. Thoughts crashing against each other like waves of blood being spilt. He roared as he leap straight up, an unbelievable height, to latch on the bottom of the ship.

“You CAN’T leave me!” he shouted.

“So it’s true,” Gaia said. “You are some kind of freak.”

“There they are. Don’t let them get away,” shouted Commander Revin.

Brutak turned to the garage’s entrance to see a squad of stormtroopers behind him. They opened fire as the Nebula-glaive swung around and began to fly out of the garage’s upper entrance. Brutak tried to hold on as tight as he could, but he could feel the power within him draining away. He felt like there had been a well inside of him and he just dumped the entire thing. His grip loosened and a blaster bolt singed across his back as it grazed him.

He yelled out with pain as he fell to the ground and watched the spaceship dart away into the sky. Brutak limped over to a nearby container as he heard Revin shout and send a man in his direction. Brutak peeked over the crate to see a stormtrooper rushing towards him. He cussed and slinked away, running out into the streets.

Brutak crashed through a crowd that filled with gasps as they saw the wounds on his back. The stormtrooper came running through after him shortly after, shouting for everyone to stand aside. He was gaining on Brutak and time was running out. As he staggered through the streets, he tried to duck into alleys to hide. He found a dumpster and slumped besides it with a hiss of pain. Then he waited.

Hope began to renew in him as the sound of people passing by seemed to suggest he had gotten away. It was just as quickly dashed away as he heard the clunking of stormtrooper armor coming down the alley. He held his position, grit his teeth, and curled his fists as he got ready to fight. The stormtrooper got closer and closer and Brutak simply listened. He steadied his breathing and waited for the steps to get closer and closer. Then, once the stormtrooper was close enough, he lunged to his feet and swung at him.

The stormtrooper was startled as the gun was knocked out of his hand, but he quickly drew a tonfa that sparked an electric buzz on the end. He swung it at Brutak, hitting him across the face, and then jammed the electric end into his stomach. Brutak hollered as he fell back onto his injuries. He hollered a second time as his blaster wound hit the sidewalk. He looked up at the stormtrooper.

“It’s over, hornhead scum,” he said with vile.

Suddenly a blue stun blast hit him in the back and the stormtrooper collapsed. Brutak tried to lift himself up to see, but his vision was fading. All he saw was a man in red, then he lost consciousness.

Brutak later awoke in a strange place. It was unkempt and had several people moving around crates of supplies. One of them was using a radio to speak a coded message when he turned to see Brutak. He hung up the radio and introduced himself.

The man was Harc Anbleza, the leader of a small resistance on this planet Pasher. He often dressed in red colors to help signal who he was to other rebels and would-be rebels, though he often switched it up to avoid the imperials on the planet. Brutak wasn’t interested in joining their rebellion, but was thankful that they had saved him. He was only interested in escaping this planet and finding his tribe’s ship so that he could return to his people. He also wanted to find that temple and continue trying to learn what he could about it.

Over the course of the next several months, Brutak would try to repay his debt by helping them with odd jobs but none he found to be putting himself too far out into the open. Overtime he grew to like these rebels and how they treated him as an equal, though at times he was reminded of Anbleza’s authority as leader. It reminded him of Gaia at times.

In his off time, Brutak did what he could for credits. It wasn’t too hard to find grunt work on a desert planet like this, but the better work was enforcer work. Tracking down people who owed debts or taking care of people who had been too unruly in bars. Brutak was beginning to like how he could wield a stun baton and it reminded him of practicing in the strange temple.

Unbeknownst to Brutak, his leap in the hangar had been witnessed by several stormtroopers and Revin. One of those stormtroopers got drunk at the bar and spoke about how he saw the Zabrak make an absolute show of himself. Crying and shouting until he suddenly flew through the air. Most of the patrons ignored it and laughed about it, declaring his senses too addled by the drinks. One of them did not ignore it.

This news went through a specific network until the information reached a very interested party. That interested party then set out to Pasher.

Over the next few weeks, Brutak got a droid and a ship. He was making his final preparations to set out in the coming days, despite the rebels wanting him to stay.

“You should really think about the good you can do if you stay here to help us,” spoke Anbleza. “If you want to go off world so bad, you can join me in the Red Cruiser for supply runs. I’m the deftest pilot in the galaxy, no laser has ever grazed me.”

Brutak felt his back ache and thought about it before laughing it off.

“I can’t stay here forever. Also the credits are non-refundable on my ship.”

Brutak put a hand on Anbleza’s shoulder before continuing, “But I’ll say my goodbyes. Tomorrow’s our last mission together and then I’m off this sand rock.”

It was at this time the interested party was arriving.

The mission was a standard one, grabbing supplies from an imperial trade to injure the occupying forces and strengthen the rebelling. Everything was going according to plan, as it often does under Harc Anbleza’s command. Brutak was waiting to rendezvous with the rest of the team and help cover their escape outside the facility. He often took times like these to meditate as he did now. It was another standard session of meditation when suddenly a voice broke through his mind.

“Found you.”

Brutak fell off the box he had positioned himself on with a crash and looked around. There was no one there. One of the other rebels went to help him up.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m… not sure,” Brutak replied with hesitation.

He took another breath to clear his mind and tried again.

“You won’t escape me.”

“Who are you?!” he shouted looking around.

The other rebel shakily held his blaster, “Brutak? It’s me, Zerton.”

Brutak looked at Zerton with confusion. He knew she was the Balosar rebel he had been paired with. She appeared human except for the two antennapalps on her head. Was that why she hadn’t heard the voice?

“Did you not hear him?” asked Brutak.

“It’s just us and we gotta keep quiet or a patrol might come by,” she warned, still obviously worried about Brutak’s sanity.

“Something’s not right here…” he said, going to the door.

As Brutak went to open the door, it was flung wide open as two rebels with wounds came running through. Looking inside, he saw a black Twi’lek with many cybernetics fighting with an Aqualish rebel. The Twi’lek gave a toothy grin as he kicked the rebel back and then brandished a red lightsaber and slashed him in two. Brutak gasped. It was the weapon from the carvings.

In the glow of the saber he could see the black Twi’leks abdomen had been modified with cybernetics and so had part of his arm and face. It turned to him and he saw the orange eyes lock on his. The Twi’lek smiled.

“I found you.”

A hand grabbed Brutak and pulled him back as the door was slammed.

“Come on, we need to GO!” shouted Anbleza. “I can’t lose you too Brutak!”

“What happened to everyone else?” he asked as they ran after the other two.

“We took out the guards and everything was going great until he suddenly showed up. He was the mercenary they had hired on, the one we thought we could handle. But he was no mercenary. He was a jedi,” Anbleza said grimly as they ducked into an alley.

They could hear the door being kicked open with tremendous force behind them. They continued to talk as they raced back to the base. Brutak felt great sorrow for his fallen comrades. He had tried to distance himself before, but they all had grown on him. They were his friends and he was supposed to protect them…

“What’s a Jedi?” asked Brutak.

“Are you kidding me? You’ve never heard of the people who can wield the Force?” asked Anbleza.

“No. What’s the Force?”

“I… what? What rock have you been living under? I don’t under the mystic mumbo jumbo, but I thought it was all rumors that the Empire had Jedi, the force users, in their armies. They were like propaganda used by the republic and scary stories used by the Empire. Strange magical men who blades of light that could cut through anything and shield against blasters.”

Before Brutak could go on, the three of them stopped dead in their tracks. The rebel base wasn’t too far ahead of them, but the sight was clearly visible now. It had been totally destroyed and a ruined building stood before them. An arm hung out the window with a singed hole underneath it. They had tried to escape the wrath of this force user.

“How fitting,” spoke the voice from behind them. “A Zabrak cost me my honor. A Zabrak will restore it.”

The three of them turned to face the black Twi’lek, dressed in black and walking towards them.

“Jedi,” spoke Brutak.

“Jedi Hunter,” corrected the Twi’lek. “But something tells me that you’re not a Jedi if you’re making that mistake.”

“What do you want with him?” demanded Anbleza.

“I need him to restore my honor. To show Lord Vader that I, Mazer’kairn, am worthy of the Inquisitors. I can be a brother! I have purged the familiarity that cursed me before, I see the weakness now and it is gone! But I must hunt Jedi to prove my worth.”

He flicked on his lightsaber, the red beam crackling with uncontrolled power. It was a crude device poorly put together out of the remains of others. It matched the patchwork metal of his body.

“Now, are you coming willingly or do I get to chase you some more?” he said with a sinister grin.

“Get out of here!” shouted the Balosar as she began firing her blaster at him.

The blade moved swiftly to block the blaster bolts. One of them was deflected back at her and hit her in the leg. She grunted but continued firing as Brutak and Anbleza ran to the hangar.

“We have to get to the ships. His magic won’t help him in a dogfight,” spoke Anbleza.

“I can barely operate the ship in the first place. It’s why I got the droid,” Brutak warned.

“That’s okay. I’m an ace pilot. Best there is in the system.”

They continued to run until they made it to the hangar. There they got into their ships and set off into the sky. It wasn’t long until another ship was behind them, chasing them out into space. It looked like a heavily damaged and modified RZ-1 A-wing.

Lasers began to fly out into space as it opened fire on the Red Cruiser. Brutak wasn’t sure why, but it seemed like the enemy did not want to shoot him out of the sky. He wanted him alive for some reason.

Brutak let the droid take care of the piloting and dodging any lasers that tended to come his way. Otherwise he watched as the Red Cruiser zipped around through space, making spirals and spins as it dodged the attacks of Mazer’karin. Twin streams of fire burst out of the back of the RZ-1 as he blasted through space trying to catch the Red Cruiser. Harc Anbleza had not been lying or cocky whenever he talked about being such an ace pilot.

They had quite the dogfight as Brutak tried to help in whatever way he could. The droid beeped frantically and warned him to retreat from this senseless violence. The commanding voice of Anbleza came over the ship’s comms as his face appeared on a screen.

“You need to get out of here, Brutak,” he spoke.

“I won’t abandon you guys!” he shouted back.

“Oh please, you were set to leave anyway. I’ll be fine and there’s more of us out there. It’s you he wants, Jedi,” he said with the Jedi carrying an air of sarcasm.

“Harc… You don’t have to do this.”

“If you’re getting sentimental, I’m going to have to laugh at you,” he said with a smile. “Now go!”

The communication channel shut off and the droid beeped at Brutak.

“Yeah yeah… Let’s get out of here, quick.”

Brutak pulled back from the fight and began to fly away. The RZ-1 veered away from the Red Cruiser and sped at him, locking his targeting systems on Brutak’s engine. Just before he could fire, lasers shot through one of his wings. The RZ-1 began to spin out of control as the Red Cruiser zipped around it.