That boy must be the one who the inquisitor targetted.
I am not sure what led me to that conclusion, but it turned out correct. We had approached the hut to speak to them and asked them what the inquisitor wanted to do with their child. Well its more like I drag Master to speak to them, but the middle-aged man spoke up first.
"Get out of here. We don't tolerate killers, let alone bounty hunters. You probably just caught the Empire's attention by killing one of their own."
The insults shocked me. We just saved them, and this is how they responded? Calling us killers and such things? I think I would've insulted him back if Master didn't have such a terrified expression.
"Now now, Owen. I understand you're irritable due to your wife's absence but don't take it out on our saviours. Especially with young Luke here."
He gestured towards the boy, who looked roughly to be ten. I could tell by his expression that he was very groggy, and would likely not recall tonight's events. Maybe it was better for him like that.
The middle-aged man turned towards the elder. "Saviours? Damnit! I came to you to defend us, not to be indebted to a bounty hunter, Ben Kenobi!"
"I called in a favour. You don't owe your life towards them or anything. If that's what your scared about."
It was a surprisingly casual air they were throwing, with a injured corpse bleeding into the ground only ten steps away. I finally decided to speak up. "Oi, why did that-"
"Ah," the old man cut me off before I could finish my statement. "An assassin clone. I haven't seen one of you since Order 66."
"Wait, you were in Order 66? What did-"
Master straightened his back. "Sir! I apologize for attempting to take your life."
"Stop cutting me off!"
Finally, everyone stopped and payed attention to me.
"I'd like everything explained. Slowly and throughly."
Meanwhile
A sith lord was reporting to his Master Palpatine. They had both been busy managing the Empire, making sure it wouldn't fall apart. Vader defeated and subjugated rebellious planets as well as handle the diplomacy for more domestic ones. And he had done a good job. Most of the Empire was stable, for now anyhow.
But then they both felt a shift in the Force. An inquisitor died. And they could tell it wasn't by the hands of another Force user. Most likely a bounty hunter or an accident of some kind, but the death of someone as powerful couldn't simply be ignored.
Palpatine simply nodded. No words needed to be exchanged. Vader turned and went to investigate what happened, although he wouldn't visit Tatooine himself once he found out that's where the inquisitor died, since the place had bad memories for him.
For now, he would get to the bottom of this.
Back to Galen
"So, what you're saying is that this old man is a jedi? And that Master tried to kill them back in Order 66, only to have his face scarred?"
The two people in question nodded at the question whilst Ben was keeping watch on Luke who had just fallen asleep.
"And that the inquisitors kidnap force-sensetive children?"
"Yes, that's right." Ben responded.
Well, I learned a lot today. Although I still feel like these two are hiding something from me.
"Well, I don't know why you didn't deal with this inquisitor yourself, but we dealt with her for you." I responded.
"And we are grateful for that. And this man should have lived in the area I told him to! No sith can sense Luke there, since Tatooine is more of a Darkside nexus over there."
The middle-aged man was about to raise his voice, but I intervened before they could debate their problems any further.
"Our client rewarded us far more than was needed; did you ask him to do so as part of your favour?"
It had been bugging me that the man offered such a ship of good quality. Rich men tended to be stingy with their money, and so rarely spent it in ways that would not be beneficial or pleasurable one way or the other. It was a thousand more times likely that he would have offered us a simple transport vessel than an actual ship.
"Ah," Ben responded. "Yes, I specifically asked him to gift the first person to come to help us with this ship."
"Why?"
"Do you really want to know?"
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I realized that Master and Owen were silent, as if watching intently for what kind of answer would be given. At that moment, I didn't care.
"Yes, I do want to know."
The elderly man sighed. "The Force guided me to do so. You are a strange one, in that the Force shifts around you despite you being barely Force-sensetive. Both light and dark. Guiding your actions. I felt compelled by the light to aid you in whatever journey you are going on, although I am afraid of whatever destination you will reach."
With each word, I only grew more confused. The Force shifting around me. Me? Both light and dark controlled my actions? Suddenly I had felt a fear grip my heart. If I lacked freewill, then was my hate of Darkside-users truly my own? Or something the Force used to spur me to action? Like a domesticated animal tempted to move forward.
A wave of dizziness had hit me. Was I me? Or was I a simple tool to be used? No. I was me, and the Force was the Force. Completely seperate, no influence on one another. It was a blatant lie. But it was the only one that offered any sort of comfort at that moment.
Master must have seen the inner turmoil that expressed itself on my face. "If you will excuse us, General Kenobi. I apologise for trying to kill you all those years ago. My... loyalty bade me to do so, at least until the Empire decided to decommission me."
"Unlike many other jedi who survived, I don't harbour feelings against the clones for carrying out their orders."
Master nodded him, and on that note we left. My personal turmoil made me pay more attention to what I was to the Force and what it was to me. An obstacle, to be overcomed when fighting a Force wielder through clever tactics and tricks. Did I really think myself clever? I simply beated one person with the element of surprise, and now I felt as if my dream of overcoming trained Force-sensetives and eventually Vader was achievable. Yet, all this time, I was pushed along by the Force itself. By both the light I was indifferent towards and the dark I had hated with my very soul. How could I beat an inquisitor head on, let alone Vader and whoever was the other sith lord?
I have no chance against the Chosen One.
The thought came out of nowhere. I had no idea who this 'Chosen One' is, but I felt the words rang with an absolute truth. "I have no chance against the Chosen One" I had said aloud. At this, Master seemed to startle.
"Where did you hear that from?"
"I... never heard it before. I just felt like those words were the truth, and felt a need to say them."
"Well, sorry if I overreacted. It's just... that's what we called Anakin Skywalker."
"The poster boy of the Clone Wars?"
"Err, yes. If that's how you want to call him. I heard he died, in a duel against a Jedi back in Mustafar. So I found it strange when you called him by his name."
I turned to him. My own turmoil forgotten instantly in the face off curiousity. I wondered if that was the Force steering my emotions or if it was my own nature. I could not find the will to care. "Why did he fight against a Jedi? And why wasn't this told to the general public? A death of a general would have been a massive blow to the Republic back in the Clone Wars."
"Umm, that's classified information. Don't look at me like that. Even if I wanted to tell you this information, the Empire could execute me for sharing it."
I sighed. We came across the body of the inquisitor, bleeding from the head. Her brains was sprayed in a small spot below her head from when I finished her off, with her skin searing from when the hot, melted bullet hit her. Suddenly, I knelt down and begun to loot her body.
"That isn't a very good idea," Master worringly warned me.
"She isn't going to make use of this. And some of this would be useful. Her armor is top quality, and we can sell her lightsaber for 20,000 credits."
"And if the Empire sees her body was looted? Do you think they'd take this standing down?"
"Relax, they'd probably think it was the Tuskan Raiders. They use slugthrowers as well, you know?"
"Just be quick."
I believed he realized I was trying to distract myself. I had pushed down the questions regarding the Force, but they were still at the edge of my mind. So we chattered and when we reached the ship, we had started training. I had completed the physical training, but Master was teaching me how to resist Force-sensetives who attempted to influence my thinking. Meanwhile, we entered the hyperspace. After we exited, we went home and moved residencey to the ship. Master was paranoid aboout the Empire finding out about us and it would be more for bounty hunting. Although Caretaker wasn't happy about such a change, she relented and followed us to the ship.
And that was the end of the day for me. And I was left to wander at what Ben told me.
A few hours later
Vader didn't come to Tatooine. He feared the memories the place wrought would kill Vader and revive Anakin Skywalker. Instead, he sent a sharp stormtrooper to investigate. The stormtrooper was called Contrail, a clone like Master.
When he investigated the body of the inquisitor, he had almost dismissed it as raiders. But he knew that Force-sensatives were a resilient bunch, and that it wouldn't take a single shot to kill them.
He investigated her body. It seemed that one shot got through, and then when she was knocked down by it they shot her in the head. No, no. That wasn't quiet right. The shot barely missed her lightsaber, which caused it to melt when it hit her. The high velocity allowed it to break through her armor regardless of the physical state and melt her skin.
Yet, she had still fought. They... approached her? And engaged her in melee combat? There were no lightsaber wounds on her, only bruises and gun wounds. So it wasn't a Jedi. But who else could fight with a inquisitor one-on-one and not die? Yet, it clearly wasn't a Jedi. These weren't Jedi tactics. He knew from experience when he fought alongside the Jedi during the Clone Wars and against them during Order 66. This was a different kind of fighter.
So he reported to Darth Vader. First reporting what he saw, than what he thought. And the sith praised him, confirming what the clone had concluded from what he could sense from the Force.
And besides, Vader already knew who it was.
Back to Galen a few days later.
It turns out while teras kasi was meant for the jedi, it worked well against anyone with limbs. It helped us complete many bounties. None of which involved inquisitors.
We acted as cargo protectors and delivery for strange and probably illegal packages. Although we earned ourselves quiet a title when we had killed the female inquisitor. 'Sith Hunters' they begun to call us. Although we never actually hunted any sith. We wouldn't go out killing random people, but we would specifically hunt sith and inquisitors, or so goes the rumors.
But for now, nobody had such a request. Still, our reputation got us a lot of jobs that required no killing unless in defense. And the money we earned was a lot. Master bought a new pair of blasters, as well as armor. I had bought armor, detenators that released sleeping gas,l customized ammo for slugthrowers that was filled with a gas that both poisoned and calmed an individual once vaporised by a lightsaber. Which was a deadly combination for Darkside-users. Finally, and the most expensive toll, a sword made entirely of mandolorian iron. Which was resistant to lightsaber. Out of all of us, only Caretaker was sensible enough to save any money.
Then, we got a message on the Holonet whilst caring for the ship. I got a job. Requires hunting a Darkside-user.
We then travelled halfway through the galaxy to accept the job.