Blaster, Blade, and Blue Skin: Theron

“A Chiss bounty hunter?” Dura asked, both surprised at the unexpected news and annoyed at the complexity of the situation. “It’s little far from the Outer Rim for him to be chasing credits.”

“It is very odd,” replied his Rodian spy. “He could be a spy for the Chiss, or he could be exiled. I only know he is a Chiss because a thug tore off his gauntlet in a desperate attempt to slow the bounty hunter down. He killed everyone that saw the blue skin underneath.”

“Except for you,” Dura replied coldly, his temper causing the spy to bring his hand closer to his holster. If Dura planned to shoot the messenger, he would he ready.

“You did pay for the best,” reminded the Rodian, and Dura nearly groaned when he remembered the large sum of credits that bought him this information. “He is trying to be covert, whatever the reason. Armor and a helmet help hide his identity, and a Chiss soldier can make a comfortable living as a mercenary.”

“Do you at least have a damn name?” snarled an exasperated Dura.

“Theron,” said the Rodian. “It seems to be more of a pseudonym than an actual Chiss name.”

“Are you some sort of Chiss expert now?” The Rodian nearly stepped back, cautious in case his employer’s irritation turned to violence.

“You learn things when you work in the information business. Chiss names are usually longer and hard to pronounce.”

“I could care less about damn Chiss names!” With that, Dura turned around to face the dark shadows of his personal hangar. If the rumors were true and this Chiss bounty hunter was on the trail of that rogue Jedi, Dura was in trouble. “If I offer up the ship records, he might let me live.”

Though he whispered this more to himself than to the Rodian, the spy replied, “And if he fails at his hunt, the target might come back to kill you for betraying him. Then again, the bounty hunter might kill you regardless. You know he is a Chiss now.”

Dura closed his eyes and released a frustrated sigh. His spy was right, of course. He now knew Theron was a Chiss. He closed his eyes to mull it over, but as soon as he did so they snapped open again in realization. “How would he know what you told me?” he asked as he turned around to face the spy, his hand going for his blaster in the process.

He was midway through his turn before the spy fired, the momentum of his turn reversed by the weight of the bolt. Dura, instantly dead from a shot to the head, dropped to the ground.

“Excellent marksmanship.”

The spy turned to face a pair of red glowing eyes and the dark silhouette of a figure emerging from the shadows of the hangar. Theron, clad in bounty hunter armor and holding his helmet under his arm, glanced down at the smoking corpse with a nod. “Credits can never buy loyalty.”

The Rodian cocked his head to the side and asked, “Then how did you know you could trust me?”

The Chiss smiled. “I trusted your desire to live.”

The spy could only nod in agreement.

“Thank you for his password to the shipping logs,” the bounty hunter continued. “I added an extra five hundred credits to your payment.”

“You are too generous!” exclaimed the Rodian, both surprised and anxious to end the conversation so he could disappear.

“I would appreciate if you misdirected anyone else searching for… my target. And me.” Theron stared at the Rodian, his burning red eyes piercing the spy to his very core.

“Of course.”

With a final glance at the corpse, the Chiss turned and walked away into the shadows. The Rodian sighed in relief and quickly scampered away through the darkness as well, trying to put as much distance as possible between him and that terrifying individual. He would uphold his end of the bargain and misdirect anyone searching for the Chiss or the rogue Jedi, but secretly he hoped the Jedi would kill Theron when the two finally confronted each other.

Until then, he could only sleep with one eye open and a hand on his blaster.

Then again, he did that anyway.

Just a few words: If you're reading this post, thank you for reading the beginning of my short story. I hope you enjoyed it. Constructive criticism and comments are ALWAYS welcome.

I'm sorry for my relaxed activity in the guild - I cam home from college hoping for some free time this summer, but I found myself cleaning carpets for 40 hours a week. (Don't bother with the sexual innuendo, many others have beaten you to pointing it out ) As always, I'll do my best to be more active. Actually, if anyone wants to leave a list of things I should do / can do to help out EPOCH, I would appreciate that.

But yeah. Comments and criticism are welcome.

Looking like a solid start, Joe. I've already detailed the few things I managed to pick up on it to you, not a lot much else to be said! Begs me wonder how Theron got to where he is.

I'll read it today and get back to you

A very good start! We need more

Apologies I couldn't read this on the 21st, but I've done so now.

Excellent start I mirror others comments in that I'd love to see more and that I hope we get some info info Theron /Whateverhisrealnamemaybe's past; it would be interesting to see how he got to this point in his life.

Everyone who has contributed stories to this site does so with such originality and gusto that sometimes its hard to take in and I for one am damn proud to be part of such a dedicated lot, and I'm also very glad to have added your work to the Fan-Fiction archives now too.

Soude wrote:

We need more

I second that ^^

I'll do my best to meet the demand! Thank you both for the comments and taking the time to read it.