FicWad

-Alera sat quietly on the floor of the cargo hold meditating. Jex had been very vague as to his purpose on the world they had landed on, so she did not know how long she should expect him to be gone. She had been waiting nearly two hours when she sensed him approaching, along with one other who Alera could tell was strong in the force.

-She lowered the ramp and went out to meet them, expecting to see Jex with another rogue, but she stopped in her tracks when she saw a woman clothed in black accompanying Jex to the ship. The human female had black hair that was pulled back tightly into a ponytail. Her face was hard, the sign of someone who had lived with rage for most of her life. Alera knew immediately what she was.

-Alera drew her light saber and got into a ready position to fight Jex's companion. The stranger's eyes narrowed at Alera's threatening posture, but she took no action. Instead, Jex put a calming hand on Alera's wrist and made her lower her weapon. "Relax," he said. "She's with me."

-"But...but...she's a Sith!" Alera exclaimed. Her wide eyes darted between Jex and the stranger who seemed oddly amused by the situation.

-Jex looked back at Darkana and then to Alera and said, "Yes?" he spoke as if Alera had stated the obvious and shouldn't be so surprised by the turn of events.

-"She'll kill us the first chance she gets."

-Jex thought for a moment and then nodded in agreement. "Probably."

-Alera's gaze returned to the female Sith, and a smile appeared on Darkana's face. Jex introduced the two of them and invited Darkana onto the ship. As she passed Alera, Darkana turned and gave the young Jedi a condescending shrug before entering the Nomad. Alera's disbelief quickly turned to anger, and she followed them both as the loading ramp closed behind them.

-Darkana scoffed at the Nomad's interior as she looked around. The vessel looked like a chaotic mess: cargo containers laying around in disorder, a cluttered workbench, and various devises hanging from nets on the ceiling and resting on shelves attached to the wall. The place was a mess.

-"Home sweet home," she said sarcastically.

-"I thought Sith didn't care about appearances," Jex remarked.

-"We don't, but we do value efficiency. How can you find anything in this disaster?"

-Jex smiled and looked at Alera. "See? you two already found something you have in common." Alera glanced at Darkana but quickly looked away. It was true that she had often complained about the disarray the ship was in, but she didn't like the thought of having anything in common with a Sith.

-Jex showed Darkana to the cockpit and asked her to show him where Frell was hiding. She smirked and typed in the coordinates of a nearby planet. Jex took one look and groaned, "That's just great."

-"What is it?" Alera asked, offering a puzzled look.

-"That's Tokama," Jex explained. "Let's just say I've been there before."

-"Something tells me you didn't exactly make friends there," Alera said with dread.

-"Don't worry little Jedi," Darkana mocked. "I'll protect you."

-Alera glared at Darkana, and Jex chuckled at their bickering. "This is going to be an interesting trip," he mumbled to himself as he sat in his chair and set course.

-Tokama was an overgrown world filled with swamps and marshes. It was infested with all manner of nightmarish nocturnal predators, and even worse, it was populated with Hutts: obese, slug-like beings that were not to be trusted. Jex landed the ship on a landing pad that rested above a shallow swamp. As the weight of the ship pressed down, gasses were released from under the support struts. The moment the loading ramp lowered, the musky smell of rotting bio-matter invaded the ship of overpowered the senses of the ship's occupants.

-Alera covered her face with her sleeve, trying to block out the smell, but neither Jex nor Darkana seemed to mind. Jex stepped off of the ship, but when Darkana and Alera tried to follow, Jex turned to stop them.

-"You two stay with the ship," Jex ordered. "Frell is mine, and he's dead."

-"I should accompany you," Alera protested. Frell had been a Jedi master who had betrayed the order, so Jex could understand her feelings, but Jex knew that she was no match for Frell.

-"I need you to watch over the ship and keep an eye on Darkana," Jex explained. "Don't worry about Frell; he will pay for what he has done."

-"He has the knowledge of a Jedi master and even sores, a Sith," Darkana added. "Why don't we all go hunt him down?"

- "Aside from the fact that I don't trust you that much?" Jex asked. "I don't want to leave the Nomad unprotected on this planet. There are people who...might try to steal it, so just stay here and try not to kill each other until I get back." And with that, Jex briskly walked off, leaving Alera and Darkana glaring at each other.

-The trip to Tokama had only taken two hours, but in that time Alera and Darkana had made their mutual dislike of each other very clear. Alera had tried several times to make Darkana change her ways, while Darkana had mocked and even threatened Alera in response. Jex had chosen to watch with amusement rather than interfere, but now that they were alone, Darkana stared at Alera with deadly intent.

-Jex walked across the narrow bridges that connected the floating sections of the hub. He wasn't worried about Alera and Darkana; they didn't like each other, but they wouldn't kill each other either. Darkana didn't strike him as the kind of person who would kill someone weaker than herself; her pride wouldn't allow it. At least that's what Jex hoped.

-He went to a small kiosk where a Klatooinian was tapping away at a data pad, probably going over his finances. Jex sat down on a stool, hunching his shoulders to try and hide his face as best he could. He looked to his left and right before addressing the dog faced alien.

-"I'm looking for someone," Jex mumbled.

-"Aren't we all," the Klatooinian replied with disinterest. With a sigh he tossed the pad on the table and looked at Jex. The moment he did, his eyes became wide and his jaw dropped. "Y-You!"

-"I'm looking for a Weeguay who arrived within the past few days," Jex continued, ignoring the man's reaction. "He would have been wearing robes and carried himself with an air of authority."

-"Are you crazy? Do you have any idea what Chunna will do if she finds you here, or what she'll do to me if I'm seen talking to you?"

-"Then I suggest you tell me what I want to know quickly, so I can be on my way," Jex said in the form of a veiled threat.

-The man ground his teeth together nervously. He was missing one of his lower k-9s, leaving the other to poke up over his top lip. He looked around to see if anyone was watching before he leaned in close and said, "There was a man like that who arrived earlier today. He went straight into Dorva's and hasn't been seen since. Go bother them, and don't come back here!"

-Jex look at Dorva's and let out a sigh; Frell kept leading him deeper and deeper into the Sarlacc pit, and now Frell was daring him to jump straight down its throat. Jex smiled to himself with grim determination; he wasn't letting Frell go, no matter where he chose to hide.

-Jex pulled his grey hood up over his head, hoping it would help, and entered the building. Dorva's appeared as nothing more than a large bar to anyone who didn't know better. There were exotic dancers performing on small circular stages placed around the establishment, and plenty of lonely patrons sitting at the tables that ringed around those stages. A bar to the left of the entrance served every kind of poison anyone could ever want, as long as you had the credits to spend. A Bith band played in the far corner, their unique music filling the air with a lively atmosphere. A large tapestry covered the wall to the Jex's right. It depicted the image of several Huts being worshiped as gods by a number of different species.

-Jex scanned the people sitting around at the bar and the tables. There were all manner of disreputable characters, but no sign of a tainted Jedi. He slowly walked forward, his senses reaching out in all directions, trying to detect any clue as to Frell's whereabouts. He sat down at the bar and ordered a mild drink without revealing his face to the bartender: a young Twi'lek female with green skin.

-Jex sipped his drink quietly while he felt around for Frell with his mind. He had become convinced that Frell was not around and was about to get up, when the door to the establishment closed, the tapestry on the opposite wall dropped, and every person in the bar pulled out a blaster and aimed at Jex.

-Jex made no move; he sat with his head down and back to everyone. A deep laugh began to pierce the deadly quiet that chocked the air. Jex put down his glass and slowly turned around to see Chunna the Hutt sitting in a compartment that had been hidden behind the tapestry.

-"Chunna," Jex said with a slight bow of his head and a large friendly smile. "You seem well. When is that baby due?"

-"Another twenty years," Chunna answered in Huttese, a language that sounded like an Ithorian gagging. "You have a lot of nerve returning here after what you did, Jex."

-Jex stood up from his seat and slowly walked toward Chunna, making sure not to make any threatening moves for fear of a trigger happy thug pulling off an impulsive shot. Jex slowly reached inside his robes and took out a black satchel. He tossed the tiny bag to Chunna, and one of her guards snatched it out of the air. The bounty hunter emptied its contents into his hand: a red jewel which Jex had procured as payment for his services on a distant world.

-"That should more than cover my debt," Jex proclaimed confidently.

-One of Chunna's people checked the jewel and gave her a nod. She then looked at Jex for a long while before responding: "So it does, but you did not come all this way to pay off your debt. What do you want on Tokama?"

-"I'm looking for someone who arrived today: a male Weeguay wearing Jedi robes."

-"I think I can help you," Chunna said with a laugh that made Jex uneasy. "I think I know where to find the person you are looking for."

-A figure draped in black stepped out of the shadows beside Chunna. Frell lifted his hood and revealed himself with a smile as the mercenaries in the room trained their weapons on Jex once again. Chunna's bellowing laugh filled the room as Jex glared at the self satisfied looking Frell.

-"As it happens, Frell and I struck a deal just before you arrived," Chunna explained. "Five thousand credits for your head; more than you are worth I think, but I never turn down a good deal when I see one."

-"I don't suppose we could negotiate?" Jex offered, more in jest than anything else. He knew that he didn't have anything he could barter with to compete with Frell.

-"Afraid not," Chunna said in a condescending tone. "Farewell Jex; you'll prove more valuable as a corpse than you were while alive."

-Chunna's men readied their weapons, and Jex drew his light sabers. He dropped down into a crouching position, releasing Justice and Vengeance. He used the force to make them spin wildly in orbit around himself as he had done during his meditations, only now the weapons were active and moving at high speed. The mercenaries and bounty hunters began firing their weapons, but the blaster bolts were deflected by Jex's improvised shield. Tapping into the force and looking into the future, Jex maneuvered the blades into position to block any incoming fire despite the numerous bolts that were coming at him at once.

-The deflected bolts flew out in every direction, killing many of Chunna's men. Chunna would have bee killed herself were it not for the protective energy shield that filled the gap in the wall which Chunna looked through. As more and more of Chunna's men were struck by their own weapons and Jex remained unharmed, Chunna's red eyes widened and she bellowed with rage. She pressed a switch and a trapdoor opened underneath Jex's feet. He managed to snatch his weapons out of the air before he dropped through the opening.

-Jex dropped a good twenty feet to a muddy bottom. The fall was nothing for him, but when he looked up, intending to jump back out, he found that a metal grating had sealed the entrance. Jex kept his weapons active as he used the light of Justice to illuminate his dark surroundings. The floor was littered with the bones of former victims, and the air smelled musky, like an animals den. There were two very large doors at opposite ends of the room, and Jex didn't like the look of them at all.

- Above him, Jex could hear Chunna taking bets as her people crowded around the door to watch. They laughed and pointed down at Jex in a frenzy of excitement. Jex recognized the behavior; he had seen it when disreputable characters forced two animals to fight for the spectators' amusement.

-It became deathly quiet, and Jex tensed up, ready to fight for his life against whatever it was that Chunna had in store for him. "Borra," Chunna yelled. The large rusty door to Jex's right began to groan as it lifted up. "Dooga!" The door at the opposite end obeyed the command, and within moments, both doors ascended into the ceiling, revealing dark rooms that Jex could not see into.

-"So I take it I'm supposed t fight for my life?" Jex called up at Chunna.

-A deep laugh from Chunna and she said, "You, Jex? You're just bait to motivate the contenders."

-As if to answer Jex's next question, a roar came from the darkness to his left. Jex returned his attention to the dark abyss as a form began to take shape in the shadows. A heavy footstep sounded behind him, and Jex turned to see a horrible face emerged from the other room. Two large hands with outstretched fingers swung well below the tiny head with pointy teeth. The towering beast came into the light, and Jex groaned as he recognized it.

-"I hate Rancors," Jex said as the two massive beasts looked at him hungrily. Jex had encountered one of the creatures several years ago. They were rare, but excessively aggressive and veracious. The only god thing was that they were dimwitted and relatively slow, but in a confined space, few people would stand a chance against one of the monsters, let alone two.

-The beasts approached Jex with eager anticipation of their meal, but turned their attention to each other when it became clear that neither of them wanted to share. Jex would have enjoyed seeing the beasts fight it out for himself, but he couldn't take the chance of them doing it while he was in the room with them. As the beasts converged on him from both sides, Jex threw his weapons out at the creatures. Justice and Vengeance were planted into the Rancors' heads, striking the animals between their beady eyes.

-Both the beasts went silent; their arms hung limply at their sides as the drool dripped from their opened mouths. Even the spectators went quiet with surprise. The only sounds were made by the sizzling energy of the light sabers. The beasts dropped to the ground as white liquefied brain-matter trickled from their wounds and out of their noses. Jex stood posed with his arms outstretched, and his weapons were pulled out of the beasts and returned to his hands.

-With the Rancors dead, Jex put justice away and leapt up to the grating, grabbing a hold with one hand. Holding Vengeance in his free hand, he cut an opening and flipped himself up through it. He caught Chunna's men by surprise, and with them so close together, Jex quickly cut them all down. He faced Chunna who was angry but still confident with the energy field between them. There was no sign of Frell.

-Jex casually tossed Justice out and, keeping his hand extended, guided the weapon as it spun like a circular saw and sliced along the parameter of the opening until the field flickered and disappeared. With the barrier gone, Jex quickly jumped through and pointed Vengeance at Chunna.

-Jex looked down at the fat Hutt with barely contained rage and asked, "Where is Frell?"