Fall of the Jedi

Chapter 2

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Jango Fett was furious with himself. How he'd gotten himself in this mess, he wasn't quite sure. All he knew was that he was going to get out and blast those who thought enslaving a Mandalorian warrior was a good idea, but first he had to survive the fighting pits long enough to take the chance at revenge. The arena walls were high and flickered a red-pink hue of the barrier. He would never be able to get past them without his jetpack. His captors had allowed him a single spear and his armor, though none of his other weapons. The only reason they'd allowed him to keep on his armor was for the effect it would have on their paying customers, the chance at seeing a warrior of Mandalore in the flesh, fighting in battle was a special treat. They made sure that their prisoners only had a sliver of a chance at survival.

Mandalorians were a culture of warriors, they were a people of many species all bound by a common culture, creed and code even though there were an ever-increasing number of different sects of Mandalorians throughout the galaxy.

Little did the slavers know, they had captured the leader, the Mand'alor, of the True Mandalorians and was about to serve him up on a platter for their resident rancor.

The rancor screeched, the sound pierced Jango's ears and he cursed under his breath. Rancors were ugly and only ever thought about killing and eating, and tonight he was on the menu. Jango spun his spear in his hands, he was a man that preferred blasters to melee battle. He would rather keep his enemies at a distance.

The creature lunged for him, swiping its large claws at him. Jango jumped back and dove his spear in a downward arch cutting into the beast's flesh, it let out a cry of pain before swiping its other hand and slamming the Mand'alor against the energy barrier. Jango groaned as the crowd cheered, drinks flew like a river and the shouts of drunken patrons annoyed Jango. He was never one for allowing such a loss of control.

The Mandalorian pushed himself up as the rancor reached for him again, he lunged his spear at its hand again and imbedded it deep into its wrist, he took the creature's moment of pain as an opportunity to race up to the rancor and ripped the spear from its wrist and threw it into its chest. The rancor screamed and howled before ripping the spear out of its chest and crunched the weapon in two.

Jango growled to himself and searched for anything in the arena that would help him survive the next few minutes, but these pit fighters didn't play fair. When you were thrown in the fighting pits, you weren't meant to survive them. In fact, not a single slave had ever made it past their first fight.

Jango grabbed the two broken spear pieces, they were the only thing that might give him a chance at survival but even that was looking slim, the rancor swiped at him and grabbed him in its claws and brought him to its mouth. Jango clenched his teeth before shoving the broken spear into its nostrils, it dropped him immediately. He hit the ground and rolled as the rancor stumbled around trying to rip the spears from its nose. Jango pushed himself to his feet and ran underneath the creature to buy himself some time. He wasn't sure how he was going to get out, but he was a Mandalorian and he wasn't going to die without giving a fight.

The rancor bled heavily from the several wounds across its body, Jango scanned the area and saw a cable that looked to have been severed off and burned hanging near the doors of the arena. A plan formed in his mind and he went with it. He grabbed it and began running circles around the rancor, tangling its legs in a web, then shoved the cut end into the arena door controls. The connecting circuits shot the door's system. Lightning spouted and sent waves of electricity shooting through the cable, electrocuting the rancor trapped in its grasp.

The rancor sputtered and groaned before it toppled over itself as it shook violently as the energy burned through its body until the life in its eyes faded into death.