Special Delivery
By: Thal Amon
The star lines of light speed resolved into the individual pinpoints of distant suns. The ship hulk drifted aimlessly in space igniting passive sensors aboard The Despot. Thal Amon turned in his chair to face the side panel of his ship’s interface. The Despot was a solid craft. Slightly larger than a fighter, the ship could comfortably house three people and a droid. Yet, Thal Amon mostly travelled alone or with limited companions. His induction to House Excidium of Clan Scholae Palatinae had been swifter than he had expected, but he intended to live up to the expectations that had been placed on his shoulders. The drifting ship listed sideways into his field of vision.
“Active scanners.” Thal’s gravelly voice brought the aggressive sensor package of his ship online. The hum and whir of the machines within the vessel created a near silent cacophony of activity and within moments, Thal had determined much about the vessel that he already knew. The investigative team that had already gone over the drifting hulk had been thorough enough. However, it was in Thal Amon’s nature to see for himself. A Sith sees with his own eyes.
The drifting hulk did show signs of limited combat exchange. There were hull breaches that had likely resulted in the crew being blown out into space. It was a pointless death. Thal detested wastefulness, and this scene was nothing but waste.
“Analyze gas signatures.” Thal ordered the machines. His brow creased as he looked at the data that came cascading over his screen. The signature was faint, almost lost in the decayed heat trails that surrounded the ship. However, they were there. The Sith smiled darkly and began punching in coordinates that would project where the trails lead to.
~ ~ ~
Gavlin 9 station was an outskirter trade hub. The Despot did not seem out of place here and most of the traders ignored the dark figure that stalked among them. Thal Amon had landed the night before this day and had set about the task of finding his quarry. It had been easy by most standards. Petty pirates with textual information to sell; these were not professional men. They had merely gotten lucky from their perspective. Thal would have called them unlucky if he believed in such things. It was unlikely that the pirates even knew what they had taken. It was doubtful such mundanes could fathom the knowledge in their possession. Thal simply knew his purpose. What they had acquired through clumsy action, he would liberate for his house and clan. It didn’t even matter what the hidden knowledge contained. His role was not to discern, but to acquire. The discernment was best left to the Order of Krath and its masters. While Thal Amon had not excluded following this path himself, for now he sought only to gain the notice of the dark masters in his house and clan. Proving his worth to the dark side, held his commitment above all else and his obsessions turned on these thoughts alone.
Out in front of the promenade, he saw the man he was seeking move. He was just as described by the underworld connections that Thal had used to pose as a buyer of information. Burly and unshaven, the man kept looking over his shoulder nervously. Thal practically sat down across from him before he registered the Sith’s presence. The mundane were so easy to distract.
“You have something for me?” Thal Amon said.
The man almost jumped out of his skin before looking up at the tall figure before him.
“Yeah. If the price is right.” The man finally managed to say.
“We can discuss your fee.” Thal Amon sat down across from the pirate. “Where are your associates?”
“They are waiting for me.” The man glanced around. “How does 10,000 credits sound?”
“You seem to be in a hurry.” The Sith purred. “Why don’t you take me back to your friends and we can discuss this in private?”
The man seemed befuddled for a moment and then replied.
“I should take you back to my friends, and we can discuss it there.”
“What an excellent idea.” Thal Amon smiled sardonically.
As he followed the man back to his suite, Thal never ceased to marvel at how easy it was to influence the weak minded.
~ ~ ~
The door of the man’s suite slid open to revel four other very surprised people in the room. Three men and a woman sat in slack jawed amazement as Thal entered just behind his guide. The Sith had “influenced” the man to take a careful route evading the public eye and any closed circuit cameras hidden in the station. No one would even know he was here. As the room’s door slid open his guide spoke.
“He wanted to talk to all of us.”
There was the quick snap hiss sound of a red light saber being ignited. The guide standing before Thal never realized his own death as he was run through from behind. Thal Amon stepped to the center of the room. There were mad scrambles then. The remaining four groped for blasters as if beset by stinging insects. The woman and the man to Thal’s left died almost immediately cut through mid-chest and decapitated in one sweep. The other two men stepped back and raised blasters at the Sith that stalked towards them. One man’s blaster flew from his hand pulled away by the dark side. Thal sliced it in half in mid air. The other man’s blaster and hand seemed to abandon his control and pointed not towards Thal Amon but at the now unarmed man beside him.
“Where is the message you took from the ship?” Thal spoke in a completely calm voice.
“It….it’s here.” The man with the blaster pointed to a device resting on the table. Thal gestured with his free hand and the device rocketed towards him. He caught it with ease and took a great deal of time looking over it. Satisfied it was what he came for, the Sith looked back to the two remaining pirates and smiled.
“You have what you came for. Please don’t.” The man holding the blaster to his friend’s head pleaded.
“I am afraid that I am not in a very merciful mood gentlemen.” Thal stepped towards both men.
~ ~ ~
Thal Amon finished his flight preparation and received his clearance to leave Gavlin 9. The fire in the suite of the men he had dispatched would not start nor be discovered for another two hours. The Sith wondered what it was that he had recovered, but put those thoughts aside. It did not matter. All that mattered was his service to his dark masters. When The Despot cleared the docking bay, Thal Amon reached forward to make the light speed calculations. And as the stars began to blur into lines of light, the Sith settled himself for the long ride home.