Star Wars: Saviors of the Broken

Chapter VI

"You must remember that we're peacekeepers, not warriors. Those among us who are old enough to remember the birth of the Republic still hear the clashing of lightsabers in our nightmares. No matter how dire our situation becomes, we must never repeat our forebears' mistakes." - Ganrax Tokra, from Collected Wisdom of the Jedi Masters

Gerard gasped. "You're Fun Ghoul?!" he said.

"I told you we shouldn't have gone with him, and you didn't listen to me," Mikey said to Gerard. "Now we're both going to die."

Frank didn't respond. Instead, he pointed his blaster at the bounty hunter as he tried to remember her name. Every bounty hunter in the galaxy was after him, and with the Empire willing to shell out a million credits to anyone who could capture him, dead or alive, he didn't blame them. It just made it tough for Frank to keep track of all the people who were trying to kill him. He didn't fire his blaster quite yet, and thankfully, the bounty hunter and her crew stayed still too.

"Dali Kintung," the bounty hunter said, as if she'd read Frank's mind. "I'm with the Bounty Hunters' Guild." She smiled and added, "Do you even realize how long the Guild's been looking for you, Fun Ghoul? And now I've finally found you."

Frank zeroed in on Dali, making sure that his aim was perfect. If she talked for much longer, he might just have to pull the trigger. This was what she got for attacking his ship, for messing with the Most Dangerous Man in the Galaxy.

Dali shifted her blaster and fired at Gerard and Mikey, barely missing the younger of the two brothers. If Mikey hadn't ducked slightly, she would have hit him straight in the head. "Stop!" Frank shouted. "They didn't do anything!"

Dali, of course, didn't listen. Gerard and Mikey both hid in a corner, looking terrified as Dali's crew members fired at them, thankfully missing every time. Frank winced as he heard the sounds of blasters and Gerard and Mikey's screams, but he couldn't help much, not without getting shot. All he could do was try to get the bounty hunters to stop. Mikey and Gerard were innocent, yet Dali wouldn't stop attacking them, knowing that they had no way to defend themselves. She smiled as she saw just how horrified Frank was, as she heard him screaming to leave them alone.

Frank channeled his inner rage as he aimed and fired his blaster, taking out one of Dali's crew members. Gerard rushed to help, but Frank shouted, "Stay back!" He couldn't risk either of the Way brothers getting hurt.

While Dali was distracted, he aimed for her heart, but he ended up merely grazing her shoulder. As she yelped in pain, Frank pulled the trigger of his blaster over and over again, picking off each of her crew members one by one. He was angry, angrier than he'd ever been, just because this bounty hunter had dared to pick on two innocent teenagers. He didn't even care whether he made it out of this fight alive anymore. All that mattered was keeping Gerard and Mikey safe.

Soon, all of the crew members were dead, and the only intruder left alive on the ship was Dali herself. She rushed toward him, but Frank grabbed her and slammed her head into the wall of the ship. She slumped onto the floor, and for a few moments, the Black Mariah was dead silent. Frank looked out at all of the carnage and then turned back to Mikey and Gerard, both of them still paralyzed with fear.

"It's okay," Frank said as he put his blaster back in his holster. "We're safe now."

"You're not going to kill us?" Mikey said.

"Why would I do that?" Frank asked.

"Because you're Fun Ghoul?" Mikey said. "Isn't that what you do?"

"I'm not like them," Frank said. "I've done some really awful stuff, I've made a lot of mistakes, but I don't kill innocents. Ever."

Mikey still looked afraid, but Gerard was more uneasy than anything. Frank worried about them, wondering if they would ever be able to trust him again. He still wanted to take them to Ilum, but he wasn't sure if he could do that if they knew he was Fun Ghoul.