Tevun-Krus #100

43 - First Mate - @JeffreyVonHauger - Fanfic

First Mate (a Star Wars story)

By JeffreyVonHauger

Hendrix could spot a doomed customer the minute they walked in. The grizzly-looking spacer's missing helmet and empty gun holster were dead giveaways.

"Give me a triple."

"You got credits?" the Bith bartender asked.

The human sucked some oxygen from a tube connected to his suit and dropped ten times the amount needed onto the bar. The place was empty an hour before the lunch crowd. Hendrix reached for his best bottle and poured three fingers' worth into a glass. The man drank it all in one slug.

"Another."

"That's a hard way to start your day," said Hendrix as he poured.

"This is the end of my day and probably the end of me."

Hendrix looked the man up and down.

"Alright, I'll bite. What happened to you?"

The man slammed his second drink down and looked deep into the dark alien eyes of the barkeep.

"Another. I'm either going to my doom or I'm gonna have to run." He wiped his mouth. "And running isn't really an option."

"Maybe you don't want to tell me this," suggested the bartender as he poured a third drink.

"It's good to have your story straight. I'll tell you the truth and you tell me if you believe it."

He emptied his jacket of credits and made a pile of at least a thousand on the bar.

"You hear a lot of stories I'll bet. Try to shoot holes in mine and this is all yours."

Hendrix poured the drink and said, "try me."

"I am, or was, the first mate on a freighter called the Heavy Lifter."

"Never heard of it."

"Good... We ran large shipments of hyperdrive fuel exclusively for the cartels. We've never had a problem and always deliver our payloads. Which as you might imagine are big."

The first two drinks settled his nerves so he sipped the third.

"We dropped out of hyperspace last night with a clear entry and no issues on the trip. Before we even picked up the landing beacon a rusty little quad jumper drove right up and latched onto our aft hatch. Captain Alzeer told them to back off and ordered the rear cannons aimed at the ship."

"Alzeer the Hutt?"

"The same. He's responsible for most of the fuel in the sector."

"Ah, he's kind of a legend," said Hendrix as his bullshit detector went off.

"Not anymore. He's dead."

"If that were true I'd have a bar full of scheming bounty hunters talking about who did it."

"Better stock up for tomorrow then, because I'm heading to the Hutts after one more drink."

The spacer finished his third and held out the glass for a refill. Hendrix filled him up and poured one for himself.

"Ok, who did it? I mean you must have had a large crew and a quad jumper only seats four."

"Three."

"Three!?"

"They took out our fifty-man complement in minutes."

"Must have been some serious dudes."

"They were women. A human, a togruta, and a female wookiee."

"Alright, I've heard this joke before," said Hendrix with a grin.

"It's no joke. They cut through the hatch with laser swords. The togruta had some kind of double-bladed electo-staff and the human, at least I think she was human, had what looked like a Jedi sword with a wicked maroon-colored plasma blade. She sliced Captain Alzeer in half right before my eyes." He took a big gulp of his drink. "You can't imagine the gore of seeing people killed with laser swords."

"Did you get a name? What did they look like?"

The spacer looked down at his drink and then up into Hendrix's eyes.

"They were beautiful... and horrifying. They didn't speak. Though the roars of the wookiee still echo in my ears. The human and the togruta wore black face masks, iron neck, forearm, and shin bracers... and honestly, not much else. None of them even wore shoes?!"

Hendrix saw the look of truth in the man's face.

"When they entered the bridge, the Captain thought it was a present from the syndicate. The two with the lightsabers were so fast and precise. The sounds of their twirling blades zipping through the air and the smell of burnt flesh froze everyone in their tracks. They chopped through arms and broke blasters in half, moving through the crew like dancers. They slaughtered Alzeer's gamorrean guards and the wookiee took their axes. She followed behind the other two delivering ruthless death blows, roaring, and swinging axes, one in each hand. No one was spared. They took the ship and jumped away."

He drank down half his drink.

"Let's say that's all true. How is it you're here telling me about it?"

The spacer looked up with a hopeless expression.

"I jumped down Alzeer's escape tunnel and took his private pod. I was standing right behind him when he was killed. As second in command, I knew all the ship's secrets. I panicked and fled. Either they didn't break into the weapon systems in time to blast me out of the sky or they let me go because they didn't care. I'm sure the abandoned pod will be found outside of town anytime now."

He finished his last drink.

"Maybe they'll believe me, but I don't expect it to go well. Thanks for listening."

Hendrix watched the man get up and make to leave him a huge tip.

"I get the feeling I'll be telling your story over and over again to all tomorrow's parties."