The Last Acolyte: Chapter 3. A Dark Turn

"I'm with you Sakali" She smiled at the old Ithorian, for the first time in five months she felt good – alive, finally justice would come to her master's killer and it wouldn't be some judge or some king that would decide the murder's fate – no, It would be her. And at last you will have peace master.

"Thank you Gre'vir, I really appreciate you helping me" Sakali gave the ithorian a weary smile, Drawing a look curiosity of the old bartender.

"When was the last time you slept?" Gre'vir didn't need to ask the question, the bags under her eyes and her yawn told him everything he needed to know. "Come, you can sleep here Sakali" Before she could protest the bartender quickly raised his hand. "We can start the hunt tomorrow; a hunter can't catch its prey if she's yawning like a Bantha!" Sakali laughed half-heartedly. She let Gre'vir lead her to his bedroom, upon entering the room, Sakali scanned the bedroom, the bed was small containing simple coffee brown covers and a few white pillows, its only light coming from a few small lamps that Gre'vir had placed on both the night stand and a small table with an old blaster rifle from what Sakali assumed was from the old republic era was placed on a weapons plaque adjacent to the bed.

"You rest now Saka" The ithorian brought the small worn out chair to the bedside. "You know I remember when you and your master first came here" he said as small smile tugged at his mouth. "You two were so inseparable, you were always following that young-un like a Tusken Raider on a Sandcrawler, Veran was a good man, one of the few jedi that were actually respected around here – hell the only jedi would be more appropriate, I'll miss the son of shutta" low breathing was all that he heard from Sakali, her tired body had finally given in to fatigue.

"I hope this makes us even Fett!" The lizard like creature stated, hints of spite quite evident in his tone. "Smuggling in a Jedi killer is bad for business" He began to slither towards the mandalorian. "It might bring unwanted attention to my activities – and that would make me a very angry hutt, but I don't need to tell you what I do to people who make me mad do I Jango?" The bounty hunter looked directly at the hutt's his stern features remained unperturbed.

"My skills have so far made me an asset to you Jabba and you know this or have you forgotten the favors you owe me?" He said, drawing a thunderous laugh from the crime-lord, though hutts were not known for keeping promises or returning favors, but if the person was someone who killed a number of Jedi with his bare hands or has had a hand in killing Jabba's competitors, the hutt would very likely be inclined or rather forced to return the favor. "Or need I remind you of the reason why I am on the run?"

"I'm well aware Fett, however do not think your feat of killing Jedi grants you the right to threaten me, out of respect I will let it pass, but test me again and I shall not be so merciful, Is that understood?" Jango nodded. "Good, once the last shipment of spice comes in, you and your fully repaired ship will be free to finally leave me in peace"

"I hope I can trust you Jabba" Jango's brows narrowed. "I don't take kindly to being double crossed"

"and neither do I mandalorian, I'd rather let you leave on friendly terms than have to arise suspicion from the republic and their Jedi whelps, Now get out of here, I have much more important things to do" With that the hutt cut off the holographic transmission, leaving Jango both worried and somewhat relieved at what the Hutt had didn't know whether he should be glad the hutt wanted him gone as soon as possible or worried. Nonetheless, Jango – accompanied by three gamorrean guards, made his way to the entrance of Jabba's palace, the palace was a fortified fortress, several armed guards, ranging from Trandoshan and twi'lek to the more savage Zabrak and Wookiee, each very different from the other, but they were united by the common goal of protecting Jabba and making a mass fortune whilst doing so as Jabba hired only the best of the best to protect him and his criminal organization.

"Are you finished here?" A masked bounty hunter near an airspeeder asked.

"Yes, take me back to the base" Jango walked towards the bounty hunter and slowly began to whisper. "Once we're away from prying eyes we'll talk" The masked bounty hunter nodded discretely. Jango vaulted on to the airspeeder's co-pilot seat and watched as his companion, as he got in the vehicle and started to drive away from the so-called palace. After waiting an adequate amount of time, the masked bounty hunter came to a harsh stop and turned off the vehicle's ignition.

"Think this is good enough" Jango looked around to all sides of the area that she had chosen for their talk and nodded. "Good, I'm tired of wearing this damn helmet" The bounty hunter took off his helmet, revealing a pale, slender and deadly looking woman, her hair tied behind her pale head, revealing a strange antenna like ornament on her cranium. Revealing the woman known as Aurra Sing "There that's much better; I don't know how you can stand wearing that damn bucket on your head" Jango smirked. "Oh I almost forgot I brought you a little picks me up; I thought you could use it" Aurra went to the back of the airspeeder and rummaged through the various things in the backseat of the speeder, before picking just what she was looking for. "Here" Aurra handed him a large bottle that contained a pink like substance while opening her own.

"What in the name of Mandalore is this?" Jango said eyeing the pink liquid with some suspicion before opening the bottle and taking a sniff. "Sithspit, that smells horrible! What is it?"

"A one-hundred year old bottle of Tarisian ale" Aurra took a swig of the bottle of the bitter ale. "Very bitter, very hard to come by and it costs quite the pretty credit"

"So you stole it?"

"Yeah, but we aren't here to discuss that are we?" Jango nodded. "Good, so what did that piece of rancor feces have to say about the ship?"

"He said it should be fully repaired by the time tonight's shipment arrives, once it's here one of his men will bring it over here and we'll finally get off this rock"

"Are you sure we can trust the Hutt? I mean they aren't exactly known for their sincerity"

"I trust in his fear of me" Suddenly the airspeeder's comlink came alive.

"Alpha Nine, where are you two? I don't think I need to remind you of the cost of arriving late with the Mandalorian hound" Aurra rolled her eyes and quickly put on her helmet and switched the voice changer on.

"We ran into some trouble with some Tusken raiders, but we're on our way". Aurra said. The man believed the story and deactivated the comlink, but not before he threaten Aurra – or Alpha Nine.. "What a piece of akk dog shit"

"Come on, we've wasted enough time out here, we don't want those boys getting suspicious now do we" Jango said as he and Aurra – now in her Alpha Nine disguise hopped in the airspeeder.

"I think it'd be so much more fun if we just blasted them all to oblivion" Jango turned to his companion, giving her a stern and disapproving look. "I know, I know, I'll keep my blood thirst in check" She winked at him "at least until we get back the ship that is" Aurra started the airspeeder's ignition and with a noisy purr it came alive. "Come on lets go back to work"

The moons of Tatooine shined brightly, the usually deadly heat the suns provided, now replaced with unforgiving gust of cold air. Despite the planets galaxy wide renown as a barren land and having near volcanic heat, during the night the entire planet's climate shifted and became as cold as planets like Rhen Var and Hoth. Gre'vir had to wear a customized protective armor, which provided the old ithorian with much welcomed warmth and great protection from wildlife to blaster bolts. "Are you sure, we can trust your friend? I mean aren't all of the spaceport 'officials' in the pockets of the hutt?"

"Yes to both questions, but this one is an old friend, he helped find the info you and Veran were looking for all those years ago, the Holocron of that old republic Jedi, Kavar remember?" Sakali seemed unconvinced and suspicious; Gre'vir slowly smiled at the young echani girl. "Saka" Sakali flinched at her old childhood nickname. "This man has been my friend for years – since I first opened my bar, He's no saint, but he wouldn't betray me" Sakali sighed in defeat. "Come on" he continued. "I think we're getting close to Mos Aspa"

The pair finally reached Mos Aspa, a city not quite as big as Mos Eisley or Anchorhead, but not at all small, it teemed with life, countless of ships – even at night, arrived in dozens, though only one-third of them were legitimate business men and women, while the others were either new slaves to be sold or aspiring mercenaries wishing to make a name for themselves.

"We're getting closer" Gre'vir said. He turned to Sakali whose eyes were shut tight. "Sakali?" he called for her, but she remained unresponsive. Her brows narrowed; her eyes were straining to see or find something in complete darkness. What she was looking for, Gre vir didn't know.

Sakali's eyelids slowly opened as she spoke "I sense a disturbance in the force" Gre'vir's expression was one of horror; he had worked with her former master enough times to know that 'sensing a disturbance' was never a good thing. "I think your friend might be in trouble, Gre'vir" Sakali let the force guide her, she began to make haste towards the light that shined brightly in the dark fog that clouded her senses, the old ithorian could barely keep up, they ran through most of Mos Aspa, like mice trying to reach the end of a maze. Sakali came to a stop in front of a large garage door, muffled pleads and pained groans coming from the other side of the durasteel door.

"Is there any way to open this" Sakali brought her hand up, extending her fingers towards the door, concentrating until Gre'vir forcefully brought the echani girl's hand down."Without the force! If you use it here you might attract unwanted attention, these guards could run screaming to the bounty hunter and he along with your chance at revenge will be gone! Is that what you want?" He whispered. Suddenly a guard came out of the front door of the building that was only meters away from the garage, Sakali and Gre'vir quickly dropped behind a pair of large crates.

"Fine, how do you propose we go about doing this then?" She asked after taking a moment to let his words sink in.

Gre'vir looked around, scanning the area for a way in to the garage, one that wouldn't draw the ire of the Hutt crime lord and his muscle; he turned back to Sakali and started speaking softly. "There" He pointed at the garage's roof. "Think you could get up there? Maybe find a latter or something for me to climb?" Sakali turned her gaze to the rooftop of the building.

"I have a better idea" Suddenly Sakali jumped up to to the rooftop of the building that was 5 times her height and landed gracefully on the very edge of the roof. "Get over here" She whispered. Gre'vir quickly snuck over to the side of the building, before coming to a halt, he had made a noise, a noise that a Rodian mercenary found to be suspicious, the mercenary cautiously moved to where Gre'vir was postioned and brought his blaster rifle up, aiming for whatever was behind the crates. Sakali stretched her hand towards the Rodian and called on the power of the force, she passed through the currents of the Rodian's mind and forced him to imagine a gizka and that is just what the Rodian saw in Gre'vir's place, a small gizka. The Rodian instantly relaxed and turned away from the small creature, making his way back inside the building. "You okay? " She whispered.

"What in the pit of Malachor was that?" He asked, Sakali mearly shook her head and concentrated on the old ithorian, slowly lifting him with the power of the force, her eyes were shut, focusing hard on not dropping him as he squirmed and cursed her and the jedi, She strained against his weight and mass, she had never fully learned to keep things afloat with the force and struggled with even the smallest of things, this was requiring all of her concentration and because of her mind trick on the Rodian she was nearly drained. Drawing on what little she had left in her, Sakali used the force and gave one final push bringing the Ithorian up from ground and gently land him on the roof. "How about a little warning next time?!" He hissed.

"Come on, we need to focus on helping out your friend" She reminded him. "Look, we can sneak in through here" Sakali slowly and carefully opened a rooftop window and motioned for Gre'vir to follow.

"Sakali wait" He called just as she was about to vault down to the garage. "Take this" He handed her an old blaster pistol which had a strange marking that read. Czerka. "Now I know jedi don't like to use blasters, but we've gotta be discreet about this, if they find out a jedi is meddling in their business, the people of Tatooine are going to suffer"

"Alright, I understand let's do this" The pair Vaulted down to the Garage and quietly landed on a crate, The sounds of pain and agony filled the room, the pair quickly spotted a Bith getting punched in the abdomen by an imposing Weequay, he was surrounded by many mercenaries of different types of races.

"You big headed worm" The Weeqay screamed. "You thought your little hutt master could save you?" He threw another punch at the Bith, swing his left arm with great strength and nailing the bith in his eye. "Well he aint here, once you mess with the Red raiders you'd better be ready to deal with us too" Another punch was thrown, this time it was aimed at the Bith's chest, he closed his eyes and prepared himself for the blow, but a voice called out.

"Let him go, you runts" Sakali came out behind the largest crate, a blaster pistol firmly held in her hands and aimed at the leader. "Or else you deal with me!" The Red Raiders laughed along with their leader.

"What are you gonna do little girl?" The Weeqay taunted. "Hurt us, with that little blaster?" Suddenly, a blaster shot came from behind a crate, hitting one of the unfortunate mercenaries directly in the head. The Raider were distracted, Sakali seized the opportunity, shooting two of mercenaries square in the chest and leaping in to the air, dodging the various blaster bolts that came at her. Landing on top of crate with ease, the mercenary took aim and shot at her, Sakali responded in kind using the crate as cover, Sakali returned fire to her opponents. "I could use some help here!" She said loud enough for Ge'vir to hear. Behind the crate the old ithorian took aim at one of the mercenaries and pulled the trigger ending the scumbag's life, this brought the attention of the Weeqay who ordered his men to fire at Gre'vir's position while he dealt with Sakali.

"Come out little girl, I'll make sure to treat you real good, just like all the other human girls I've had." It didn't take a genius to realize what he meant by 'real good'. Filled with anger and disgust Sakali jumped out of her hiding spot and aimed her pistol at his head.

"I'll make sure to kill you here and now, you piece of akk dog shit!" She pressed the pistol to his back and brought her finger to the trigger.

"Then do it precious" He hissed. Sakali was ready to pull the trigger, but the Weeqay was prepared and dropped a sonic charge that sent them both flying into the crate. He was the first one to recover, quickly jumping to his feat and making his way to the disoriented young Echani. "Aw is the little baby hurting" He taunted, his tone filled with arrogance. "Well why don't we make the baby hurt even more!"He kicked Sakali in the abdomen, making her grunt in pain. He grabbed her by her hair and pulled her to her feet. He lifted his knee of the ground and struck her right in the stomach, she groaned as he forced her to face him and punched her square in her jaw. She dropped to the ground, blood had finally come out, her nose was bloodied and she had begun to cough up blood. "What?" He kneeled down in front of her "I thought you were going to kill me?" He slowly got up and brought out a dagger. "Afraid? You should be" He laughed twirling the dagger with his fingers.

"I…" She spoke amidst blood filled coughs and gasps. "I..will not..die, at…the hands…of ..A..Coward!" She spat. Despite her bruised face, her eyes showed anger, hatred and a lust for revenge. He laughed at her, and brought his blade in for the final blow. "I WILL NOT DIE!" A burst of cackling lightning forks shot from her finger tips, engulfing the Weeqay in a glorious fire of white lightning, he screamed in agony as the lightning passed through his entire body, destroying his internal organs and turning him along with his dagger to nothing, what once was a powerful and imposing man was now nothing more than ash and dust. Sakali quickly jumped to her feet and directed her attention to the remaining twelve mercenaries that continued to fire at the crate Gre'vir had hid behind, drawing on her pain and hatred, Sakali stretched her arms towards the mercenaries and unleashed a force wave that threw the twelve mercenaries backwards and onto the walls. Gre'vir could only look on in awe; her wave had been so strong that the entire building seemed to have shaken. The mercenaries had finally been subdued; all of them were unconscious, save for one, the rodian that she had fooled with her mind trick, he couldn't have been more than eleven standard years of age. He seemed scared and bewildered, he messaged his temple, looking at Sakali with a puzzled gaze and then realization set in, she was the cause of this, she had turned his leader to ash, she had taken down twelve full armed men, the rodian reached for his blaster pistol, Sakali used the force to lightly shove him back, sending him tumbling backwards and on to his rear with a thud. "You" She paused, the simple act of speaking hurt her; she shook her head, ignoring the pain and continued. "Let him go" The rodian boy nervously shook his head and scurried to find the key that opened the bith's handuffs. I feel different, I feel empowered, alive! Sakali drew on the force and quickly healed her most serious wounds. Gre'vir slowly walked towards her, he seemed baffled.
He was about to speak, when the rodian boy motioned for him and Sakali to come to him.

"I've done what you asked master" He got on his hands and knees and bowed at Sakali's feet. "Please let me go, I promise not to continue with the raiders, I swear!" The rodian boy pleaded. Gre'vir looked towards Sakali not knowing what to expect from her. "Please master, I swear I won-"His pleads suddenly stopped as he saw Sakali's hand come up.

"Go" She ordered. "Go and never come back, remember what you saw here for this will be your fate if you continue on your path" The rodian boy thanked her and left. "Wait" she called after the boy, who came to a halt Sakali stretched her hand and called the wallets of the mercenaries to her. "Take them, you might need them" The boy was obviously a slave to these raiders, his eyes shined at the thousands of credits that the wallets contained. He looked happily at Sakali and hugged her, making her stiffen in his embrace. "Thank you" he said and with that he was off. "Go look after your friend, I need some time to recuperate from all this" Gre'vir nodded and made his way towards the captive bith.

"Are you alright, Morlin?" Gre'vir asked the beaten bith.

"I'm fine, for the most part" Morlin said as he messaged his jaw. "I don't suppose you or your Jedi magic wielding friend would have any bacta on you? Gre'vir shook his head. "Didn't think so" Suddenly a small medpack was thrown his way. "Well thank you master jedi" Sakali ignored him and fell into her meditation stance. "Well she isn't much of a talker is she, I thought jedi liked to talk about how superi-"

"Morlin, I need the information regarding the bounty hunter" Morlin raised a non existant eye brow.

"Fine, fine, let me get my datapad" He said, judging from his tone. Gre'vir could tell his friend was both suspicious and angry with him. Morlin quickly searched through a locker were Gre'vir assumed the mercenaries had put his things in. "Here" Morlin tossed the Datapad to Ge'vir.

"Thank you Morlin I appreciate you doing this"

"Yeah it was nothing I mean I just had to make myself the enemy of a powerful crime boss to get this, no biggy" Morlin said his tone oozing sarcasm. Suddenly his sarcastic tone turned into to a more serious one. "Your friend there has one final job to do for that slime ball Jabba and then he's gone, a shipment of some good spice and death sticks is coming in tonight at some hidden fort in the dune sea, I managed to get you and your silent friend there the direct coordinates all you need is a speed you're going to have to find on your own"

"Thank you" Sakali spoke, the bruises she had on her face moments ago were no longer visible all that was left was a few scars and nothing more. "You've done more then you needed to"

"Yeah. Yeah I know Jedi, but it cost me a lot, so you'd better succeed in whatever you plan to do with this Bounty Hunter" Morlin spat and headed for the door. pausing as he opened it. "Good Luck" he whispered and quickly shut the door.

Gre'vir turned to face Sakali, his eyes searched for explanation for what she had just done. "Saka, how did you do all that?" He asked, but he knew right away that she herself had no answer.

"I wish I knew" She said in a hushed tone. "But that's not important right now; we need to find a speeder and get to this hidden fort and find this Bounty Hunter" Gre'vir turned away from her and began walking towards a large crate. He opened fire on the lock and opened the crate.

"Well what do you know a speeder!" He smiled at her, knowing full well she had messed up. "How could this be? I mean this is just a swoop bike garage" Sakali eye twitched, cursing her memory for failing her.