Chapter 20

I blended into the roaming death squads by stealing a dead warrior's clothes. As I pretended to be nothing but a simple soldier I witnessed masters battling it out. Fast and flash was one way of describing the master's fight. The Jedis weren't taking any chances. They double-teamed any darksider user with blazing lightsabers cutting them down. And yet, sometimes even this wasn't enough. The dark side users fought every waking hour and their instincts helped them to win. A poor Padawan was kicked away by a master of the dark side. Even with the force protecting him, the padawan ribs cracked and he flew through the air in an arc. The Jedi master and dark side master continued to fight while I heaved up the padawan.

To his credit, the padawan tried to get back into the fight but I held him back. The padawan looked at me in surprise as I was able to hold on to him. That's when I pulled out one of my personal grenades and tossed it towards the dark side master. It rolled on the ground towards the dark side master and without even looking in that direction the dark side master used his ability with the force and tried to push the grenade away, only to get a small surprise when the grenade griped to the ground with a simple timed claw and it failed to move an inch

The explosion wasn't much to a master who wielded the force like armour but as the explosion caused the dark side user to stubble I pulled the guts out of his lightsaber and let the padawan go. I expected the dark side user to be defeated by the Jedi master, and yet the Darkside master threw his hilt at the Jedi master and moved forward to catch the wrist of the Jedi before he could be cut down. It was the padawan who won the day as he sliced the dark side master's arm off and the Jedi master finished him off with a cut through the chest.

After helping the padawan, I followed the youngster around. It was best to be on the winning side and I knew he wasn't ready to take on a dark side master. If I wasn't able to take on a master of the dark side of the force then this youngster wasn't either. I help out with shots from my blaster fully expecting them to be deflected back but giving the padawan breathing room whenever he was in too deep.

The padawan would have been killed five times over if I wasn't there, something the padawan seemed to understand when he started to talk to me. The poor kid was fully indoctrinated in the Jedi way but he had a great instinct that he rightly guessed that I was force-sensitive and asked some very difficult questions, like the fact I wasn't on the battle manifesto. I didn't deny this and weaved a story about how I was earning some cash for my own Edan ship from my master.

The padawan was interested in this as Edan ships had made noise across the galaxy by feeding the hungry and refused the Jedi and the brotherhood of darkness. But when he asked about my master I shocked him by naming my alter ego, Bee.

He asked if Bee was force sensitive and I said that was something you had to ask him but don't hold your breath because his lips were sealed tighter than a rancor's butthole.

The padawan continued to ask questions about my alter ego, in which the only straight answer I gave him was what Bee likes the most is food and wealth. It felt odd talking about myself to this padawan in the third person, it felt strange but necessary.

The padawan was joined by his master in asking questions but at this, I simply said you have to ask my master. I was shitting myself. I shouldn't have been here at this battle, I had no qualifications to prove who I was and I had a sack full of holocrons. The only thing that was stopping the Jedi master from stopping me was the rumours and stories of my alter ego.

Thank the force that I openly attacked the brotherhood of darkness with assassins and bounty hunters whenever they hurt what was mine. Bee's reputation for violence in any form had protected my interest not only from the scum of the galaxy but from the Jedi as well. No one wanted to be on Bee's shit list.

So while the Jedi master didn't believe a word I said he gave me leeway. The master insisted that he was to accompany me back to my home. It was on its way back to Coruscant and he wanted to meet the infamous Bee. I saw right through him, if I was fake and couldn't get into the heavily fortified Bee's Eden ship then I would be taken away to Coruscant as a prisoner. He didn't believe me for one second, the Jedi's instincts were pretty good as well, it was just a bit different than the brotherhoods.

Travelling with the Jedi master was the most uncomfortable I had ever felt. It wasn't just his eyes on me, consistently scrutinising me but the force as well. I hated it, I know I can't beat a master but I still wanted to shove his lightsaber up his ass.

Entering the planet's orbit that had my Eden ship on I felt at ease for the first time in months. The Jedi sitting opposite me on the other hand seemed to tense up, I can understand why. My alter ego had political power and was loved by the people and worse of all, Bee was a vengeful jerk that he wasn't ashamed of.

It felt great entering my home. I could see the Jedi master look worryingly at the tracking auto guns. These bad boys spritted out lead tip explosive rounds at five thousand a minute. I had yet to see any force user able to withstand this barrage. With the right amount of armour or shielding the bullets wouldn't take effect but the arrogance of force users hindered such thoughts.

The Jedi master and padawan sat in the public area waiting to see what would happen. I, on the other hand quickly passed the halls into the private area. This was it, here I was king. I no longer felt worried, a one-on-one fight with a master would end in my defeat but here I could take on an army and win.

I dumped my sack of holocrons in a room and found one of my spare fat suits. Casually, I zipped up my suit and changed my facial appearance with the force. When I let myself be known to the master and padawan Jedi they had been waiting for an hour. The young padawan was stuffing his face with pastries and glazed fruits served by a protocol droid, while the master was meditating.

"Greetings" I bounced across the room making sure that my fat suit wobbled in all the right places.

The padawan choked a little on a chocolate cream-filled eclair. My fat suit caused people to be surprised when they saw me for the first time. Something I made sure to take advantage of. On the other hand, the master Jedi stood calmly and came closer to greet me, he obviously had better intel on me and expected my size.

"That's close enough" raising my hand to stop the Jedi's approach. It was never a good idea to have a lightsaber-wielding wizard close to you.

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The Jedi mannerisms stayed polite due to years of training but I could sense an annoyance on the tip of his tongue. A master should have known better but because he was a master, the Jedi expected more respect and when he didn't get it the negative emotion wormed its way in.

My alter ego had a reputation for being a charismatic jerk. Bee would do what he wanted to do and hell to anyone else. My mind easily switched to my altar ego, Bee. I waddled over to the bar and skillfully mixed a tall multi-coloured alcoholic drink. Pouring out a drink for me and my two guests I pointed at my droid to serve them.

With a simple hand gesture, the Jedi denied the drink for himself and to the disappointment of the padawan, him too. The droid brought it back to me, from which I poured all three drinks into a bucket and started to take big swiggs.

"Ahhhh, waste not want not" I sighed while slapping my gut.

The Jedi was about to say something but I interrupted him "Soooooo, what do you want"

I felt that same annoyance rise again in the Jedi. To his credit, the control he was showing was the best thing I had seen in months but that wasn't saying much when I had been spending my time with raging murders.

"Sir...Bee" the Jedi began

"Just Bee is fine" I interrupted.

Unexpectedly the Jedi sighed his frustration away.

The Jedi went on to explain what they were here for. I listened, only interrupting with long slow slurps from my bucket.

Basically, the Jedi were complaining about a loose and unregistered force-sensitive sneaking into a war area.

I looked hard at the Jedi from across the room and only after seven seconds did I speak.

"Let me get this straight, the Jedi have wiped out the brotherhood of darkness, destroyed their bases and plundered their loot... I suppose congrats are in order"

This was not the reaction the Jedi was expecting but he was even more surprised when I waved my droid over

"Tell my salvaging team to partner up with two of the bigger firms and go to the Brotherhood of Darkness territories and claim as much as they can...dump the salvage in the usual place"

It didn't stop there. "Call the usual bureaucrats and see if there are cheap planets for sale, the level of destruction isn't a factor"

There was more "Send some eden ships and cheap food to the area and use my favour with the local pirates and underworld to protect them, explain that there should be plenty of weapons and loot to salvage, they may use my salvage team credentials to get what they want"

It continued "Get rid of every share we have in the insurance business and invest heavily in construction and resources, oh and tell the Hutts, they most likely already know but its good business to spread the wealth"

and "Take over the ruined trade routes filled with debris, it will probably take five to ten years to clear them out but it will be a good long-term project and give the salvage companies some long-term work"

The young padawan's mouth had spilt open in disbelief but it was the frown from the Jedi that gave me a sense of a job done well. Essentially, the information the Jedi had calmly dumped on me to explain his complaints was being taken advantage of, and best of all, they couldn't do a thing about it.

It was considered bad taste to make money off suffering but I was doing it in a way that would benefit many people from the top to the bottom. If you are going to do nasty things then make sure they love you for doing it. Glassed planets would be nursed back to health by my Eden ships, cheap food for the hungry and getting rid of space debris were things every normal person could benefit from.

So what if I made a galactic sum of cash, I wasn't breaking any laws thanks to my long hours learning the law, even if I was, a nice healthy stack of credits would solve that. I had the means and power to make use of the info the Jedi so carelessly gave. The only reason the Jedi cared as I did it in front of them without caring what they thought

A small smile flickered on my lips when I saw the Jedi's hand tighten up as the droid left to do its thing.

"So sorry, just a little bit of business" I smiled while swirling my bucket of booze

Without a pause, the Jedi chose to ignore what had happened and continued to complain about my apprentice and heavily insinuate a monetary punishment

"You want to punish my boy for being somewhere he shouldn't have been. That's fine but I think you'll find that all of his paperwork involving privateering is up-to-date and triple signed. My boy was there for the ships and whatever isn't nailed down, it's perfectly legal. Instead of punishment, shouldn't you reward him for saving your apprentice five separate times"

The silence was shocking. Even though the Jedi would deny it they all had egos and very often did the Jedi ever admit that they were in the wrong or needed help outside their order.

The Jedi master wasn't able to position his knowledge and the fact he had found me in a battle, but what was he going to do? I was ready enough for the Jedi to spout laws at me and counter the fact that all of the law-breaking happened in the Brotherhood of Darkness territory and thus nothing was illegal.

I over dramatically and visibly sighed for effect and reached out an olive branch.

"I understand why you are here, Money, or to be more precise, resources" I put my bucket down and pulled a disk out of a draw and activated the hologram map of the galaxy.

"The Savareen sector needs close to three hundred million tons of food aid, I'm willing to give a two percent discount"

The Jedi frowned yet again "Such a small discount for a grand businessman, surely you can go as high as thirty percent discount"

I looked at the Jedi who had the passive look of a stone, it was clear, to him at least that he had asked for something reasonable. By the look of the padawan, he didn't know what was going on, someone had neglected their studies.

"I won't ask my suppliers to take a loss for the sake of others. They work hard for what they have and earn their pay. The discount I offer comes out of my pocket. It's a fundamental rule to keep your allies happy and fat and your enemies scared and doubting"

"Do the math" I said to the Jedi " Two percent discount of three hundred million isn't a small amount. Six million tons of free food aid. I'll tell you what, I will even throw in free transportation. That's a great deal seeing the fact you have nothing against my boy. I'm practically giving you something for nothing"

"Three percent and one hundred million tons of medical aid" demanded the Jedi

"I don't make medical equipment, I just buy it and resell it in my healing halls. If you want medical aid then you're talking to the wrong man" I answered back

"Four percent" the Jedi countered

"Four percent but I'm not paying for transport costs and fuel" I offered

"Four percent and the Jedi will pick it up and distribute it" the Jedi answered back

The Jedi wanted to take credit for giving food aid to the masses and I was ok with that. The information I gained with the complete massacre of the Brotherhood Of Darkness would give me complete access to many sectors and trade routes that when active and cleared of debris would pay for them selfs completely every day. The cash that I could earn was immense and possibly enough to get my Dyson swarm started. The Jedi earned a little on the side.

"Deal," I said and handed over a recording of our discussion to the Jedi.

On the way out the padawan asked why his master had asked for a thirty percent discount and settled for four percent. The answer was simple, he had nothing to bargain with.

"So you fooled Bee and earned eight million tons for nothing" asked the now impressed padawan.

The Jedi master almost stopped to look over his shoulder "First of all it's twelve million tons of free food aid my young padawan, you need more tutoring in numbers and less in the art of lightsabers. Second...." at this point the Jedi cupped his hands around his mouth and leaned in closer to the padawan "Whatever discount mister Bee gives will be earned back tenfold in unforeseen ways by the end of the day. It only a matter of time before he owns a corner of the galaxy for himself"

"I .... don't understand" answered the padawan

"Of course, he didn't. The young padawan followed the way of the Jedi and cash and credits meant little to him" thought the Jedi master but he knew there was more to Bee because throughout the negotiation he had used his force mind trick and been battered back multiple times, he even had the impression that a mind trick had been used on him but that would be insane to even think.........or perhaps that what they wanted you to think.