Star Wars: Heir of the Menace (Book 1)

Chapter 14: The Challenge

Marquikise's POV

The battle ceased only a few minutes after I informed the Captain of my decision. Now the fate of this planet rest on my shoulders. I move forward passed our front line to the no man's land to confront my challenger. He has not arrived but will soon, I can sense it.

A single CIS transport shuttle depends from the empty sky, towards our position. As it lands, it sends up a cloud of dust on this rocky planet. A figure descends the ramp from the shuttle and through the cloud of dust. As he approaches, the shuttle leaves and takes for the sky. This sends up more dust, which eventually settles. The man now twenty meters from me is the middle aged, human. He sports a single blaster pistol on his hip and a Vibro-sword strapped to his back.

"You have been the most difficult subject to eliminate." He informs me. "A client pays high for your head today. Rather than letting you eventually fail here, I want to challenge a Jedi to single combat."

"I accept your challenge." I reaffirm.

"Good." He plays with a device on his arm. "Your well informed friend knows a thing or two about my tactics. I've tracked you from Geonosis to Coruscant and everywhere you've gone since then. You will fall by my blade today."

I unclip my lightsaber from my belt. He seems to have finished his speech, and is now circling me. We both wait to initiate the fight, knowing that only a few wrong moves might spell the end of the fight. As we circle, I study him closely. Like others in the galaxy this man has obtained cybernetic enhancements to change his mind and body to partially machine. These can make any person able to react and think with lightning fast speed.

Circling each other, I notice his hand drop dangerously close to his blaster pistol. Reacting to this, I charge forward. He draws his pistol and fires. My blade ignites and deflects any lethal blasts away from me. Closing the distance, I swing my blade to clip his blaster in an effort to disable it. Managing to strike his blaster, I aim a kick for his chest.

He ducks away, throwing something in my direction. A thermal detonator, with only a second to react, I draw upon the force to shield me from the blast. Hearing the blast, I am knocked off my feet. I can smell the burning robes, so I roll over to snuff them out.

I sense it before I hear him. Rolling back, I raise my blade to deflect his attack. Standing over me is his cybernetic enhanced body, wielding the sword I had seen before. Kicking out to knock him over, I connect with one of his legs. He stumbles back, giving me enough time to stand back up. We engage in melee combat again. The effects of the thermal detonator have left my body scorched and tired. I raise my lightsaber to face him again but my movements feel sluggish. In a training session on Coruscant, I would have had enough energy to keep fighting.

Now, each strike and guard requires more effort, and take more time than they should. I can sense his strength behind every attack. Eventually I believe he will break though my guard and connect with my tired body. Stepping back from the intense combat, I manage to savor a few moments of a break. A grin forms on the commander's face.

"Tired already, Jedi." He chuckles. "Your day has come, as I am sure you can sense it."

"No!" I exclaim, fighting through the exhaustion to deliver a flurry of blows with my lightsaber.

Each are deflected and he cleverly disarms me.

"You are beaten, Jedi." He glances at my lightsaber. "I wouldn't advise pulling that lightsaber back to you."

"The force is my weapon." I breath back.

He lets out a chilling laugh. "In your state? Of course Jedi, I should have seen it. Your last ditch effort to persuade me that you will win."

Studying him for a moment, I realize my opportunity. Not a true Jedi's opportunity but one a bounty hunter would take. His guard is down, and he is venerable. My robes weight heavily from the blaster tucked within their folds. He wouldn't see it coming due to the Jedi honor of never carrying blasters.

'No!' Shouts a voice within my mind. 'It isn't the Jedi way.'

"I will give you one last chance." I threaten the commander, playing on his previous words. Knowing the implications of using a blaster in the Jedi order.

"One last chance." He pauses to think. "And then what?"

"I-" Drawing the blaster and pulling the trigger, I surprise myself and the commander. A blue ring of energy emits from the blaster and travels to the commander, knocking him out cold.

I had expected a laser blast but instead my blaster had been set to stun. Unable to speak, I hear a clear from behind me. The Republic, by my victory, won the battle. Only able to stare in shock at the heap of the commander's body and back down to my blaster. The blaster who took the commander down. Now I can see the blaster had been set to stun, rather than on its full power setting. Each droid who witnessed the battle, turned to exit the field where we were fighting. Even now, droid ships are descending to pick up their survivors.

The battle is over and the Republic can claim victory, but I can't shake the uneasy feeling in my gut. If that blaster, my blaster had been on a different setting. I didn't want to think of the outcome in that scenario.

Republic troop transports land near where our battle took place. Emerging from the transport is my master. I can't make out his expression and as he steps near, I drop the blaster that I'm still holding. Bowing at his presence, I rise to notice his smile.

"Well done apprentice. A threat is eliminated for the moment and the Republic is victorious." I see his gaze travel towards my empty hand and where my blaster landed. Without a word, he picks the blaster up and studies it. "Crude technology, but something non the less."

Placing the blaster back in my hands, he extends his arm to retrieve my lightsaber. It flies willingly to his hand.

"A true Jedi uses the force as their weapon." He pauses for effect. "The lightsaber is the extension of that force. Perhaps today, that blaster was too."

"Master, I realize what I could have done." I exclaim, finally.

"As do I. But as I think on it, are we really that different when we use a lightsaber to end a life?" He smiles. "You have made a great friend, and one who is looking out for you. The council doesn't wish for you to know but I sense something between you and your friend. A connection stronger than some Padawan and Master's connections. I believe the force is leading you to have this friend as an ally for the trying times ahead. I will continue to serve as your master but realize that I can only teach you. This bond is something I do not wish to come between."

Startled, I can only stare at the two weapons in my hand and back up to my master.

"The journey is hard and you will be tested, but the force will guide you." He pauses to bow. "Go, bring this commander before the Republic and report back to the Jedi council."

He ushers me into the waiting transport and the unconscious body of the commander follows. I can feel the ship take off, but my focus is on the commander. The lights on his cybernetic enhancements are still blinking and I can hear the wine of the computers in his body. A life, bound to me within the force, despite our beliefs.

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