KAZ MAEKON
ROGUE KNIGHT
After three years of grueling labor at the Jedi Agri Colony on Dantooine, Kaz Maekon, at the age of sixteex, left the Jedi Order behind to pursue a life of adventure on the planet Van Koor.The Jedi Council, displeased with his decision to leave, are keeping a close watch on Kaz Maekon. Should he gain a dangerous reputation of any kind, The council will not hesitate to dispatch a knight to bring him back home...
Kaz lurched forward. "Hey!" He yelped. Turning around, an angry Devaronian looked back at him. The fang-toothed passenger barked at Kaz in a language he didn't recognize. Devaronianese he supposed. Kaz huffed, threw his bag over his shoulder and continued down the walk to the customs section. He learned long ago never to tangle with anyone who has horns.
Being cooped up in a Jedi training temple doesn't allow one to experience the...colorful side of a big city like Neo-Realto. And by "colorful," we mean "dirty," and by "experience," we mean "squaller in." Neo-Realto is a good example of what happens when a city, designed to be a tourist trap, becomes a seething pit...inhabited by tourists. Everything in Neo-Realto was designed to be modern and new and luxurious and the nanosecond those things became obsolete, throw ithem out and get new modern, new, luxurious things. But by the looks of the spaceport, Kaz thought, this place was modern, new and luxurious forty years ago, maybe. Still, he would have to deal with it.
Kaz dropped his bag on the customs scanner. Security was important in a spaceport like this. No weapons in, no weapons out. A policy which Kaz laughed at openly having, just moments before, sensed two Twi'lek priests stroll past customs with a large supply of blasters strapped underneath their robes. There was a time when Kaz Maekon might have cared. Now it's something he'll just have to get use to. Luckily he wasn't guilty of those same crimes.
AAAWWWRRROOO!!!
Kaz snapped his eyes back to the scanner. On the screen Kaz glimpsed the word "weapon" flashing repeatedly as an extremely large, hairy customs agent, from a species Kaz couldn't quite place, grabbed his collar and yanked him over the table.
"What the slag is this thing kid!?!" Bellowed the agent, holding up Kaz in one hand and his lightsaber in the other . Kaz made a mental note to kick himself later for bringing it which was expressly forbidden since he chose to leave the Order.
Looking up at the agent, whom he came to realize was actually human, he blurted out, "Ughphmm Mnee Lsbbabderr."
The agent cocked his head to the side. He released his tight grip on Kaz's collar and let him go. His feet once more touching the ground, Kaz straightened his tunic.
"I said, 'that's my lightsaber.'" Kaz stated with a hint of disdain for the brutish agent. "I happen to be a Jedi Knight."
The sweaty agent raised an eyebrow, (if it could be said that he had two) then let out an echoing laugh. "Of course you are." He laughed again.
Annoyed, Kaz stood up straighter. "I am a Jedi!"
The agent wrangled his laugher under control. "Come on then, Jedi. Let's see some identification."
Kaz smiled, leaned his elbow on the counter and reached out with the Force. "You don't need to see my identification."
The agent crossed his trees/arms and smiled. Kaz smiled back.
* * *
"Think I'm a bit rusty." Kaz thought. "Damn agri-colony..."
"Would that be the Jedi agri-colony on Dantooine?"
Kaz turned sharply to his left which was of course a mistake having just received a large blow to his temple. His head swam and his vision went black for a moment but he soon recovered enough to see that the clicking sound was coming from a large gray-haired man habitually clicking the intensity adjustment switch on Kaz's lightsaber.
"Wha?" was all Kaz could open with.
The man stood. The dressy, burgundy coat he wore did little to conceal his ample gut or the stains on his shirt. There was a Republic ensignia on his lapel, but in the outer rim territories that can mean very little.
The man waddled to the other side of the room, an infopad in one hand and Kaz's infernal clicking saber in the other. He stopped and stood next to a framed picture of himself.
"The agri-colony where you spent approximately three years after failing out of Wander Jedi Praxeum on Van Door." The man looked up from his infopad smiling. He was rather pleased with himself for being able to dig up all that information in only three hours. "And where you recently left without the approval of the Jedi Council."
Kaz leaned back with a smirk. "Wow. You sure got my number." He remarked with poorly hidden sarcasm.
"And what is your business here on Van Koor, Mr. Maekon?" He asked while he scratched his unshaven face with the emitter of the clicking saber.
It took all the effort in the world for Kaz to keep himself from snapping it on with a simple twist of the Force.
"First of all, that's enough of that." Kaz reached out. The lightsaber flew out of the fat man's hand and landed in Kaz's who checked it quickly then set it aside. "Now, what's going on here?"
"I'm Administrator Fen Imati. I run the Neo-Realto Spaceport, Hotel and Arena." Fen Imati said, smiling widely. He restrained himself from actually patting himself on the back but it took a great deal of effort.
Kaz stared at Fen Imati with far too much exasperation in his eyes for someone so young. He sighed and once again asked, "What's going on here?"
Fen Imati looked back at him. His focus shifted between his desk and the wall several times. Deciding on the desk he scampered back behind it and sat down. Once again, sitting in his position of authority, he leaned forward. "How good are you?" He finally asked.
Kaz frowned. "How do you mean?"
Fen Imati fidgeted in his seat. "Well... we've been having a situation here as of late. And, um,..." He leaned back in his chair and scratched his dirty face."we were just thinking you could help us out."
"Like what? Lost luggage or something?" Kaz knew that whatever it, was it wasn't going to be good. Otherwise one doesn't start a conversation with "How good are you?" Still, Kaz had high hopes.
"It's, um," Fen Imati coughed. "...a small nek infestation. You know, nothing big." He waved off the whole situation as trivial.
It, of course, was hardly trivial. Neks are some of the most vicious "things" to ever evolve from a puddle of goo. Packs of nek battle dogs, specially enhanced with cybernetic implants, have laid waste to small armies. And wild neks are impossible. Too fast to run from, too strong to overpower and too stupid to know when they're hurt, they kill everything.
"Cybernetic neks?" Kaz asked.
"Um, wild, actually." Fen Imati took a cigarra from his coat pocket and a blaster from the desk drawer. Pressing the trigger, a flame ignited from the nozzle. He lit his cigarra. "There aren't too many of them, only four, but it doesn't take many instances of horrible deaths to slow business."
"Yes, I can see how that might happen." Kaz slowly stood up. "Uh, thanks, but I just don't think that's in my range of motion right now." He walked to the door.
Fen Imati threw his hands up. "Of course. Say no more. I can understand your concerns, Mr. Maekon." Hitting a button on a desk control pad he leaned in over a small speaker. "You can take care of it now, guys."
Kaz looked back. "Sending security to take care of the neks?"
Fen Imati leaned back and took a puff on his cigarra. "To take care of you, actually."
Kaz's eyes widen. "Me!?!"
"Smuggling weapons is a serious offense here on Neo-Realto. Punishable by ten years incarceration."
Kaz crowded the desk. "My lightsaber!?! I'm a jedi knight! We have special dispensation!"
Security, led by the brutish customs agent Kaz had the pleasure to meet earlier, stormed into the office.
Fen Imati motioned to the computer screen. "Not according to the Republic database. Says here you're a farmer."
"You Bantha Sack!" Kaz lunged over the desk but was restrained by the guards who hauled him back to the door and bound his wrists in stun-cuffs.
Fen Imati laughed. The laughs turned to coughs as he took the cigarra out of his mouth. "Sorry kid, my hands are tied." The guards joined his laughter. "You still have a choice though if you want it."
Kaz could only roll his eyes.
* * *
Next were a pair of durasteel shin guards. Should a nek not have the meneuvering space to make a leap for ones jugular, the legs are the next best target. Putting back on his brown tunic for warmth, Kaz sensed someone outside the room. Sure enough, the door opened. Kaz turned around but saw no one at the entrance. Confussed, he went to the door and checked the hallway but again, he seemed alone. As Kaz walked back in, a leather belt fell around his neck. Startled, Kaz looked up.
Attatched to the high ceiling was a large dark brown creature, with what must have been at least eight gangly, multi-hinged legs, smiling down at him. It extented what Kaz could only assume was a hand.
"Greeetings Kasmakoon!" It said. "I am Flitch."
Kaz hesitently shook its thing. "Uh...hey." Flitch had a firm shake which it continued to hold as it leaped from the ceiling on to the floor. It stood aproximatly four and a half feet tall and Kaz noted that it in fact had ten legs.
"I'm sorry, uh...Flitch, but I have no idea what species you are." Kaz said, eyeing Flitch's many apendages and black eyes.
"No apologies Kasmakoon. I am a Decipede. Indeed, very few of my people venture from our homes on the surface of Kashyyyk."
"I thought only woookies lived there." said Kaz, cocking his head in confussion.
"Untrue. Indeed, woookies inhabit the canopy of the great trees but my people live deep beneith them, far down in the lower levels." Flitch said with pride in his raspy voice.
Kaz shrugged and nodded. "Well, thanks for the belt." Kaz put it on.
"I have also brought you these." Flitch pulled out a sack and emptied it on the table. In it were belt clips of rations, a medi-kit, a comlinks , a pair of multi-spectrum goggles as well as a handy holster for his lightsaber.
Kaz clipped the items to his belt and holstered his weapon. "Rations. Looks like they expect me to be in those vents for a while."
"Indeed, they doo. But I feel it is in our intrests to not be in those vents for a while." Flitch snickered.
Kaz's eyes widened. "Our? You going in to?"
Flitch lowered his head as air blew from flaps around his neck. Kaz took this as a sigh. "Indeed." he huffed.
Kaz returned the sigh. "Well, good to have you aboard Flitch"
Flitch smiled.
The door opened and the hulking agent, whom Kaz learned was named Gorum, leaned in. "Ready guys?"
* * *
Gorum unlatched the vent grating and swung it open. "Hope you're comfortable. Sadly, no ones been in to clean these things since the neks got in. Those neks are crazy. All they do is eat and... well, you'll find out." Kaz gave Gorum a sarcastic laugh then climbed inside. Flitch followed suit.
"We were hoping they would gnaw on some power cords and fry themselves, but no such luck, eh?" Gorum remarked.
Kaz crawled around Flitch. "Too smart for you, huh?"
Gorum flashed Kaz the same smile he did before he knocked him out earlier. The grate shut on them and locked. Kaz pressed his face against the bars. "You're locking us in!?!"
Gorum shrugged, "Gotta protect the guests, right?"
Kaz turned back to Flitch and mumbled "A few hours ago I was a guest." Flitch chuckled in agreement.
The vents were spacious although you couldn't stand up. Still, they could maneuver around each other should they need to. Crawling down the vent, they rounded a sharp corner. Almost immediately the light vanished. Kaz slipped on his multi-specs and turned to Flitch. "Well, this is it."
Flitch smiled once again as he reached up and removed two black filters from his eyes, letting them glow brightly. Kaz was surprised at first but then realized his ignorance. Since very little if any light fell on Flitch's species, he would of course only be able to see in the dark unless he had the aid of special filters. Kaz waved his hand in front of Flitch.
"Can you see all right?" he asked.
"Indeed. Can see better than you, likely." Flitch responded as he pulled out a blaster from his utility sack.
It was probably true. The multi-specs allowed him to see in the dark but everything was tinted green and muttled. It lacked definition and detail. Kaz hoped the Force could help to fill in the blanks.
The two continued their trek down the corridor until they reached an impasse. A vent leading straight down was in front of them. Flitch looked up from it to Kaz. "At least 40 feet, I believe." He stated with minimal enthusiasm.
Kaz sighed. "I'm sensing something down there."
"Can we not find a safer way down?"
The passage was much more narrow than the corridor they were in. Only about four feet wide. "I don't want to be in here any longer than possible." He looked to his friend. "And no time like the present, eh, Flitch?"
Flitch thought on this for a moment then nodded in agreement. "Indeed, you are correct Kasmakoon. If they are down there, we will find them." Flitch lowered himself down into the passage. Each of his ten legs stuck to the featureless panels around him. "I go first and you stand on my shoulders."
Kaz didn't like it as it seemed to put them both in a vulnerable position, but he didn't trust himself enough to stand a 40 foot jump, even by slowing himself with the Force. Kaz climbed on Flitch as he crawled down the deep vent.
The trip was a bit shaky and slow as Flitch was not accustomed to crawling on smooth metal, nor carrying such a load but they steadily made progress.
AAARRROOOWWW!!!
Flitch twitched, "What was that?"
Kaz mumbled as he tried to steady himself. "Maybe they found another lightsaber."
AAARRROOOWWW!!! The sound was closer this time.
"Kasmakoon, I do not think you are correct." Flitch and Kaz looked down. From the bottom of the vent shaft a vicious nek leaped up. It couldn't reach Flitch but it's barks and howls were deafening as they echoed against the narrow walls.
"Up! UP!" Kaz yelled. Flitch complied with haste, scurrying up the shaft. Kaz saw the edge of the vent shaft in his vision. Unfortunately, perched atop it was a second nek. "Down! DOWN!" Flitch spotted the other nek. Startled, his grasp slipped. They fell ten feet before he caught his footing again.
"We are trapped, Kasmakoon!" Flitch yelped.
With Jedi's calm, Kaz responded, "Trapped? I thought we were hunting them?"
With that, the nek leaped down. Startled, Kaz instinctively reached for his lightsaber.
Flitch warned, "Noo, Kasmakoon!"
With a snap-hiss the shaft was bathed in soft violet light. Kaz cleaved the beast in two, but the shrieking scream he heard came from Flitch. Realizing his mistake, Kaz powered down his saber and cursed himself as half a nek fell past him on to Flitch. The dead carcass succeeded in dislodging three of his legs from the wall. His footing completely lost, the blinded and disoriented Decipede fell 25 feet to the bottom of the shaft and at the mercy of the waiting nek below.
Also falling, Kaz shot out his legs to both sides of the vent, halting his rapid descent. He steadied himself and looked down in time to see the nek bury it's razor sharp teeth into one of Flitch's gangly legs. Flitch screamed out.
"Slag!...Slag, slag, slag!" Kaz holstered his saber and pulled out his blaster. Aiming at the nek posed a problem as the two wrestled each other below. "Flitch, shut your eyes!" Kaz took a deep breath, summoned the Force, and fired three shots.
This time the yelp came from the nek, but it still held Flitch firmly in it's jaws. Fed up, Kaz released his hold on the vent and fell. Dropping like a concussion grenade on the nek, Kaz fired several more shots into its thick hide. Finally, the nek released it's grasp and fell to the side, dead.
Kaz panted heavily. "Flitch!" He shook the insectisoid creature. "Flitch, you dead?"
Flitch opened his eyes. "Kasmakoon?"
"Flitch, I'm sorry. My goggles compensated, but I forgot your eyes can't take that kind of light."
"Yes. With blasters I'm all right. I can shut my eyes but the lightsaber was too strong." Flitch sat up. "Please, my friend Kasmakoon. Next time give me warning."
"What about your legs?" Kaz dislodged the severed leg from the mouth of the dead nek.
"Indeed, I can grow more later. Did we get all of them?"
Kaz looked at the bodies of the two they killed. "Well, I'm no nekspert, tee hee, but these look like babies. Nek packs come in fours. Two adults and two offspring, a boy and a girl for breeding purposes. They kill any other children they have."
"Inbreeders. A good excuse for their poor attitudes, eh?" Flitch chuckled.
Kaz laughed.
Two more howls ring off in the distance. Kaz looked down the long vent. "Sounds like Mommy and Daddy are home."
"Do you think they know they're young are dead?"
Kaz nodded. "Most likely. Nek have an incredible sense of smell. They can feel death. I think we got 'em angry."
Flitch pulled out another blaster and held them both up. "Then we should be on the offensive. Like you say, we are the hunters today."
Flitch maneuvered around Kaz. "I lead, you try to keep up." Kaz smiled and Flitch tore off down the vent. Kaz crawled after him.
Their speed was phenomenal. Flitch used his two arms and nine remaining legs to propel himself down. He circled the entire perimeter of the vents, quickly darting his head into the other shafts he passed, hunting for the remaining neks. Kaz used the Force to help himself keep up, which he did aptly.
As they came to the end of the vent shaft, Flitch leaped out, into a large room. Curling himself up into a ball, he rolled on the floor past two large oxy-regen tanks, unfurled himself and stood to his full height. Kaz leaped out and ran to join his friend and was shocked to discover that his normally short companion stood over ten feet tall. There they stood, blasters ready, scanning the room.
Kaz felt a nudge from the Force and quickly leapt to his right as a large nek jumped from the tank onto the floor where Kaz once stood. "Flitch!"
Flitch saw and reacted. Grabbing at a set of pipes above him, he pulled himself safely to the ceiling as another nek rushed him. Flitch fired several shots at the creature but it didn't even slow down. Instead it turned toward Kaz.
The other nek followed and soon both were in pursuit of Kaz as he ran to the far end of the oxy-regen room.
"Kasmakoon, the wall!"
Indeed, Kaz was heading directly for a wall but to a Jedi there are few dead ends. "All part of the plan Flitchy" Reaching the wall, Kaz climbed up it like a wookie would a tree and leaped backwards to grasp a pipe from the ceiling. The neks on the other hand hit it at top speed. Hard enough, even, to knock themselves out for a short time which Kaz enjoyed watching from his perch.
Kaz dropped down and sprinted for another wall. "Flitch! Your eyes!" Flitch fumbled for his filters and slipped them on as Kaz reached the wall. Mounted on it was a breaker box filled with switches. Kaz removed his goggles and with one swipe of the switchbox the room was flooded in light and the oxy-regen fan blades whirred to life. Once again, Kaz instinctively dodged out of the way as the neks rushed him once more. And once again one of the neks hit the wall. The other, sadly, wouldn't fall for the same trick twice as it spun around and launched itself at Kaz.
Not expecting either of the neks to learn from their mistakes, Kaz was caught off guard. Stumbling to get out of it's path, Kaz fell backwards over a pile of equipment left by one of the long departed workers.
The Nek pounced but Kaz was still ready for him. He rolled back catching the snarling beast on his feet and kicked it up and over him. It sailed through the room until it was caught midair by Flitch's long legs and kicked into one of the large air mixing tanks. It howled as the large, industrial fan blades made short work of the wretched animal.
Flitch flashed Kaz a thumbs up. Kaz smiled and turned his attention to the last nek who was recovering from yet another dented wall. It now being safe to do so, Kaz ignited his lightsaber once again. The beastly nek, having lost it's entire pack, fled down one of the many vent shafts.
Kaz nodded at Flitch who was back on the ground. "Let's go."
* * *
"Kasmakoon! My people are very good at spatial physics" Flitch huffed.
A confused look covered Kaz's face as he made a sharp right turn. "Uh...okay, good to know, I guess."
"Noo, I am to mean that I believe the nek is heading out of the vents to the main concorde."
"We've gotta catch that thing before it gnaws on any tourists!" Kaz replied with worry.
"Indeed!"
They turned a corner to see a vent grating ripped open. Terrified screams could be heard outside. "Here it is!"
Kaz and Flitch burst out of the venting systems and ran down the concorde, running against the riot of people fleeing from the wild nek. Luckily, a lightsaber tends to discourage people from getting in your way so the two had no trouble getting through the crowd.
* * *
"Next issue, the nek situation." Gorum stated.
Fen Imati swallowed his nerf and looked to Gorum. Do you think our farmer friend was able to kill them?"
"I think our farmer friend is nek fodder." Gorum replied with a wry smile.
Fen Imati nodded in agreement. "Guess we'll have to spring for professional exterminators. I'll call the Republic after lunch."
Shouts came from the balcony. Fen Imati and Gorum looked up to see a large nek leap from the rail of the upper level, launching itself directly for the ample meal of Fen Imati. Screaming like a mynok, Gorum fainted as Fen Imati pressed himself against a wall.
Less than a foot from the spaceport administrators fat head, the nek was jutted aside as a lightsaber tore through it's skull and pinned it to the wall next to Fen Imati. With great effort of will, he turned his head in time to see the nek fall to the floor as the saber's blade burned through it's flesh. Fen Imati slumped down as the lightsaber melted its way down the wall beside him.
* * *
Flitch smiled. "No, they are not. I am leaving."
"What?!? After all that, they're still sending you home?" Kaz barked.
Flitch chuckled. "Ha! Untrue. They are finally letting me go home. I have been stranded here for some time as my travel papers were stolen from me when I arrived. Only now do I finally get to return to the trees of Kashyyyk."
Kaz stopped and slumped his shoulders. "Wow. I just assumed you wanted to live here too." He put his hand on Flitch's shoulder. "I'm gonna miss you, bud."
Flitch returned the gesture. "Indeed, I shall miss you as well, Kasmakoon."
Flitch made his way down the concorde to the landing pad for his shuttle bound for Kashyyyk. Kaz waved as Flitch was welcomed aboard then he was gone. "Indeed." was all Kaz could get out.
* * *
Kaz opened the door to a disaster. The room has barren walls, and outdated ramshackle furniture. Kaz raised an eyebrow. "Perfect." He sat down on a worn chair which creaked underneath him. He looked out his cracked window at the city of Neo-Realto.
Kaz sighed. "I guess I'm home too."
END
Kaz Maekon stepped off the ramp of the transport shuttle. His reddish brown hair was dirty and poorly kept, each individual strand wanting to go it's own way without consulting the others. Kaz neglected it as he has with so many things recently. After all, he had a lot on his mind, and for good reason. For eleven years Kaz dedicated his life to the Force, eight as a student, three as a wretched farmer. "Three years I'll never get back." Kaz thought to himself. But it seemed that in all of his sixteen years, the Force still wanted nothing to do with him. At least in an official capacity, anyway.