Hard Cash -WORK IN PROGRESS-

"How did I end up doing this again?" thought Sam as he was firmly holding his two blasters over a burning corpse. Sam turned around quickly as the crowd in the cantina started to realize what was happening. The screams were drowned in the beating music and the sound of the city. Sam looked around as people ran from him in fear. There stood Sam Kestal, the notorious bounty hunter and dueler and behind him was his new found credits, ready to be cashed in.
Sam muttered to himself: "Not even a challenge for a Mandalorian like me" and as he touched the corpse, he felt the burning sensation in his hand and he muttered once more "Not even that warm.." as he looked on his black gloves as the ash flew off from his hand. "Hmph" he grunted. "Guess dead it is then."

Once in his ship with the corpse safely in the cargohold, Sam sat down in the pilot chair and sighed and silently said to himself: "This will be my last job, I swear it on my mothers life.". He leaned back and thought to himself: "How did I really end up in this life?" Sams thoughts took him through half of the galaxy, passing by moons and planets to finally see himself in his childhood. He heard about the stories about the Mandalorian wars and the glorious Mandalorians and their crusade against the Republic. As the new Mandalore called for battle, even Sam joined the ranks in hopes of bringing back the glory of the Mandalorians. Sam remembered when he grasped his blasters for the first time, they were cold and smooth as sam grasped the hilt of the blasters. As he was trained, he found that he was exceptionally good with pistols. Sam found them light and easy to maneuver and aim with as the speed of battle went along. Sam was excited for his first training session, Sam remembers entering the ring first, hoping his challenger would choose pistols, however Sam wasn't that lucky. His challenger, his friend, Sera Mundi knew his strength. Sam still remembers Sera's beautiful hair, short and rough with no make up, a strong woman. She beat Sam brutally in unarmed combat as Sam was fairly weak. He fought his strongest as a Mandalorian should, for Honour. He was taught how to fight, how to arm a bomb and how to be strong. Sam was taught to fight for honour and for glory in battle. Sam remembers when he first saw his own version of honour. He remembers seeing Sera practising with her blaster pistols and hitting the targets with precise hits. Sam remembered how he once approached Sera in hopes of showing his appreciation but in his foolishness, he insulted her gravely and hurt her honour. This was Sams first true duel. A duel between Mandalorians. Sam was sweating now, the memories of the past was frightening to him.

As Sam was coming out of his dreams, he took off his helmet only to look at it. The t shaped visor was ever haunting, reminding him of the dreaded day. Sam still remembered the sweat, the adrenaline and the anger he felt. How slow everything went. It almost seemed as if time stopped and the only two people who were moving was him and Sera. Her blue coloured armor glowing in the sun as a bolt of laser came flying towards her. Sam shot first. He could still remember how hard he pressed the trigger and the ever present chill in his grip. Her glowing armor wasn't glowing in the sun anymore, the sun was clouded, as if the world knew a life had been lost and the sky was crying. It started to rain and the sizzling smoke of her burnt armor was ever present. I was greeted with congratulations and happy cheers as I left the ring and her smoldering corpse still sizzling in the distance. The honour was payed in death and it was the Mandalorian way.

The honour that he gained when he bested the best shooter in the region moved Sam up to the bigger leagues, he didn't have to train any longer. Sam still remembered the long walk he had to take from his bunk to the transport ship, he wandered slowly, thinking of the past and what he had done. "Is honour truly that important?" Sam thought as he passed the ring. It was raining again, it was hard moving through all the mud even though Sam knew that was exactly what was awaiting him on the battlefield, vivid storms with blasterfire all over the sky while covering in the mud. His life was not gonna be as easy as he thought it was and Sam was right. After leaving the planets surface, he got transported to a hell hole of a planet, all the stories he read always sounded heroic and yet it ended up being hell. Then Sam met his best friend; Jerc Kast.