Meeting with Lord Maul
By Cody Barnett and The Second Revan

(Note: This is part two of a five part short story. You can read part one here.)

A lone speeder bike roared over the desolate factories that comprised The Works, dodging the thick, billowing clouds of smoke that stained the innocent sky with darkness. The shady employer that had ordered the hit on Xander Trepkos had left specific instructions that the assassin was to ensure that he was not followed. The assassin had spent painstaking hours circling the Senate District, darting wildly in a circuitous path. Finally, as the sun began to descend on the horizon, the assassin broke from the infinite string of traffic. No one had followed the single speeder bike as it thundered over the abandoned complex.

Abandoned, the assassin reflected, but not forgotten.

The Yensid, Incorporated compound - the assassin's final destination - loomed directly ahead. Increasing his speed, the assassin squinted against the orange glow of the setting sun, the last golden rays glistening off his dark complexion, the wind mercilessly slicing into his chiseled features. A hangar bay yawned open as the speeder approached; the assassin noticed with growing suspicion that the hangar bay was conquered by shadows, the only light filtering in through the bay's open blast door. The speeder bike braked at the shadow's edge, the assassin casting his gaze into the darkness beyond. As his dark eyes adjusted to the poor lightning, the assassin noticed a single Ubrikkian Bantha-II cargo skiff resting against the right wall of the hangar bay; surprising, considering that the assassin had expected an expensive airspeeder complete with, given the employer's cautious nature, a full contingent of security forces. The hangar bay appeared abandoned.

As the assassin dismounted the speeder bike, however, a lone figure emerged from the shadows, slowly edging toward the ambient light cast by the open door. In the figure's grip was another person, humanoid, face cloaked with a rough, black cloth. As the figure continued to approach, light spilled over his face. The assassin noted that he was an older human male, his head devoid of hair but his face covered with a salt-and-pepper beard. Time had worn the man down, eroding deep wrinkles and scars into his leathery face. An eyepatch covered what was once the man's right eye. This was not the face of a greedy executive concerned with a troublesome whistleblower; this, the assassin noted, was the face of a mercenary.

"That's far enough," the human barked, his voice as course as sand. At his words, two new figures emerged from the umbra. One, a mighty Trandoshan, towered to the man's left, his powerful frame easily triple that of the assassin's. A large, ominous blaster rifle was clutched in the reptile's taloned hands. Offsetting the beastly mercenary, however, was a diminutive Rodian, stationed a few paces from the boss's right. Both glowered in the assassin's direction.

"The welcome wagon," the assassin scoffed. "I assume this is the time I'm supposed to say, 'I have a bad feeling about this?'" This unexpected cabal had soured the situation. Then, in response to the older man's question, the assassin replied, "I was told to come unarmed."

The older man chortled, as if the assassin's words were humorous. "So were we." A cold muzzle pressed into the small of the assassin's back. The situation just went from bad to worse. Luckily, the assassin was known for his ability to adapt. "You can call me Captain Karsati, for now," the older man said. Although his eye was settled on the assassin, the blaster in his right hand remained trained on the hooded prisoner. "And you are...?"

"You can call me Quinn," the assassin stated, his crisp voice reverberating throughout the cavernous hangar. "I was hired by a man to take care of a...problem. I was told to rendezvous with the employer here."

"Well," Captain Karsati barked, a large smile spreading across his withered face. Quinn was surprised to see a set of sparkling, perfect teeth. "You are the fellow who made our job much easier." With a flourish, Captain Karsati removed the black hood from his prisoner, revealing an elderly man trembling with fright.

Quinn's eyes narrowed at the revelation. Kinglsey Turpin, the honorable judge who had agreed to preside over Xander Trepkos's hearing against Raith Sienar, stared back with large, fearful eyes. With Xander Trepkos's ashes spread over the Judicial Plaza, kidnapping Judge Turpin appeared to be overkill. However, Quinn had long ago abandoned any system of morality. A job was a job.

As if to answer his question, Captain Karsati continued. "We..." the older man nodded toward his three colleagues, including the unidentified mercenary holding Quinn at gunpoint. "..were hired to bring ole' Judge Turpin here to The Works for a nice chat. Apparently, the employer wants to make a point: mess with the head of the machine and you find yourself crushed by the weight of corruption. Lucky for us, your distraction - I'm assuming you're the one who nailed Trepkos's coffin shut - created quite the stir, and plucking the judge from the crowd wasn't any problem." Captain Karsati smiled, as if in adoration of his cabal's ability.

"You're welcome," Quinn retorted dryly, smirking in the direction of the Rodian. The alien's black orbs glowed greedily as the assassin continued to judge the deescalating situation.

"You know, boss," the Rodian buzzed, "we could kill this man and take the credits for ourselves. We need the money to repair our skiff." The alien jerked his head toward the Ubrikkian model nestled in the darkness behind him.

The older man seemed to consider this for a moment, finally nodding slowly as the scenario played out in his mind. Captain Karsati knew that Quinn was armed; only a fool would enter an unknown environment unarmed. Smiling, Captain Karsati looked at his fellow mercenary. "Search him."

Quinn smirked. "Your mistake, Captain Karsati," In a rapid gesture, the assassin slammed his elbow into the stomach of his captor. The human male grunted forcefully as the air left his lungs, the blaster rifle clattering to the floor as the mercenary clutched his chest in surprise. Quinn flicked his wrist, a KDY-21 blaster pistol smacking comfortably into his grip. As the human attempted to recover, Quinn shoved the blaster pistol into the man's gaping mouth. With the tables turned, the captor now the captive, Quinn used his prisoner as a human shield, keeping his finger tight on the trigger. The man gagged in response to the barrel that threatened to blow a substantial hole in this throat.

The boss of the cabal sneered. "Kill him!" he bellowed.

The assassin shoved his captive away, directly into the line of fire of the Trandoshan. The reptilian creature's first blaster bolts peppered the doomed human before the corpse finally battered the massive mercenary, momentarily throwing the Trandoshan off balance. Quinn exploited this weakness, firing two quick bursts in the same direction. Red bolts of energy slammed into the Trandoshan's chest, two small holes forming on impact, acrid smoke leaking from the wounds. A dazed, defeated look crossed the reptile's face as he folded to the floor in defeat.

Quinn rolled, narrowly missing the blaster bolts from the Rodian. Captain Karsati was rapidly retreating, using Judge Turpin as a shield against Quinn's attacks. The assassin took note of this as he finished the roll, firing at the Rodian instead. The mercenary yelped in surprise as three blaster bolts melted his chest into a superheated slab of meat.

"Enough!" the boss shouted desperately, now backed against the far wall of the hangar bay. Quinn noted that the human had carefully positioned the terrorized judge so that the assassin didn't have a shot. "Listen!" Captain Karsati pleaded as Quinn continued to advance. "We can work this out, you and I. We'd make one hell of a team! Let's kill the old man and split the credits!"

Quinn smirked. "What's to stop me from killing you both?"

"You wouldn't do that," the leader snapped. With his free hand, Captain Karsati gestured at his weathered face. "You see these scars? These are the scars of a man willing to get his hands dirty. You..." Captain Karsati trailed off, his single eye scouting over Quinn with disgust. "You deal in bombs. You wouldn't dare stoop to my level! You leave people like me to deal with blood on our hands."

"I deal in credits," Quinn replied coldly. "Blood is just a side effect." The KDY-21 blaster pistol spat a final bolt that struck Judge Kingsley Turpin between the eyes, the official's face frozen in a permanent expression of horror. The surprised mercenary allowed the body to drop to the floor, but his blaster pistol remained trained on Quinn.

"Now it's just you and me, pal," he said flatly. "One of us will live. The other—" Captain Karsati stopped mid sentence, his face contorting in a look of surprise and pain; his free hand shot up to his throat, desperately clawing as if to rip a hand free. Quinn looked on in confusion as the mercenary gasped for breath, dropping his blaster pistol and struggling against the non-existent hand. Finally, however, Captain Karsati looked up, his single, bulging eye looking beyond Quinn's shoulder.

The assassin whirled, bringing his KDY-21 blaster pistol to bear on the assailant. An invisible force wrenched the blaster from Quinn's grip, and he gasped in surprise as the pistol clattered away on the duracrete floor. The shadow thrust his hand forward, and, in response, Quinn was blasted against the far wall. As the assassin slumped down, the blow winding him, Captain Karsati let loose a slow, horrible death rattle before collapsing to the floor.

As the assassin tried to steady himself, a booted foot pinned him against the wall. The tip of a cold, metallic cylinder rested against Quinn's neck.

"You have done well to survive so far, Quinn." The voice that poured from the hood was cold as durasteel, betraying nothing about the new player in this dangerous game of life and death. "You have proved yourself to my master. However, you have outlived your usefulness." Quinn looked into the dark hood, staring into the eternal pit of darkness with eyes devoid of fear; the assassin had stood eye-to-eye with death countless times, and fear, he discovered, was a useless emotion. Checkmate could only be avoided by rationally considering the next move, as it could be the assassin's last.

"Enough, my young apprentice." A hologram flared to life behind the cloaked assailant; the new figure was just as mysterious as "the apprentice," covered with dark, flowing robes. However, the voice was distinct; Quinn recognized the dark tones as belonging to the employer.

"As you wish, my master."

"Congratulations, Quinn." A small smile cut across the face of the hologram like a dagger. "Or should I call you Keder?"

Quinn - or Keder - was surprised. Keder was a name he rarely used, as the alias - the assassin had used so many times before, his real name was almost forgotten - was as close to an identity as the assassin cared to possess. However, Keder allowed none of this to show as he carefully rose to his feet. "Whichever you prefer. You are, after all, the one holding the blaster." Keder eyed the metallic object in the shadow's hand carefully. "Or whatever that is."

"Humorous, assassin." Although the smile remained, darkness dripped from the glowing figure like water. "Your ability here has reinforced my decision to keep you alive. For another job, of course." The unstated threat was obvious. Keder couldn't walk away from this job - alive, anyway. "My young apprentice has all the necessary details."

The shadow extended his hand, a data card gripped tightly between his fingers. "Everything you need to know is listed here, including contact information. I warn you, however, to maintain minimal contact lest you risk blowing your cover." The assassin struggled to his feet, accepting the data card as he stumbled toward the speeder bike.

Pocketing the data chip, Keder shot one last look to the shadow and the hologram of his employer. "I won't fail you."

"I hope so, assassin, for your sake."

To be continued...

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About the Author
Cody Barnett has been a collector of the game since its beginning in 2002. Due to lack of interest in his community, however, he did not begin playing until he joined the Rebelbasers online community in 2003. He is an avid Star Wars fan and thoroughly enjoys playing the Trading Card Game; likewise, Barnett takes pleasure in helping the continuation of the game he loves. Currently, Cody is the Card Development Chairman and a moderator on the Rebelbase community (under the alias of Grand Moff Nicodemus Fett).

Matthew started playing when he purchased two 'A New Hope' starter sets, and started collecting and playing. He stopped, due to the difficulties in getting cards, especially from the later sets. In 2008, he started playing again, joining Rebelbasers and spends time creating dream cards on Rebelbasers.