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The
Manor Principle
ELT/Jodo Kast/Dragon/BHG-H
(pantera_63@hotmail.com)
I
was asleep in my room when my alarm went off. I woke up quickly,
as I have trained myself to, and looked at my chronometer. It was
two hours before I had set my alarm to go off.
"Blast," I mumbled. "What
is it, Tuss?"
"Well, Jodo, I see you have learned
my tactics. Going to have to think of something new."
"What is it, TUSS?"
"Watch it, junior. We have a
mission for you. A ex-member of Black Sun has attracted our attention.
He recently killed one of our hunters and stole something."
"And why would that be important
to you?"
"Because it was a plan for the
new SSL that Xerokine had drawn up. So shut up and listen. He has
stolen it and we need you to hunt him down. We need the plans back
and if possible the man so we can question him."
"Why did you choose me to catch
this man? There are hunters that are more qualified than me."
"Not in this matter. You know
this guy. It was Kankil Manor. Name ring a bell?"
It did. I had worked for Black Sun
for a long time before I quit and joined the Bounty Hunter's Guild.
Now I wished I had never worked for Black Sun and honed my hunting
skills to the point that I could join the BHG. I should have stayed
on Gand and lived my life out as a humble freighter pilot. Kankil
Manor had run a semi-legal business on Nal Hutta. I had been ordered
to work for him by Black Sun. He had been a vicious man who delighted
in other's pain. I would have bet 100,000 credits he had killed
the hunter slowly.
"Where is he believed to be?"
"We have no idea. You are responsible
to find that out. You taking the job?"
I wasn't sure. Manor was a lunatic
and would be very difficult to catch. He knew me and would probably
be expecting someone to come after him. Another reason I didn't
really want to hunt him was that when I decided to leave Black Sun,
they had sent him to make sure I never told anyone any Black Sun
secrets. He caught up to me on Tatooine and beat me to a bloody
pulp. I barely escaped with my life. He had seen me in a cantina
and had followed me back to the hovel that I had rented. He came
in right after me and attacked me. He didn't have any weapons which
certainly saved my life. He left, telling me if he ever ran into
me again he'd kill me. Of course the Commish didn't know that. I
had made my decision.
"Yeah I'll take it," I said
hoping that I wouldn't regret it.
"Good man. We expect you to start
on this right away."
"Yeah I'll get going as soon
as my ship is fixed." My ship, Kast's Pride, had been heavily
damaged in my last hunt and had yet to be repaired.
"It's done. We had Xerokine move
it up to the top priority. So get going!"
I had little choice. I got out of
bed and went into the bathroom. When I came out Tuss was gone. I
dressed and went to my ship.
Xerokine's men had done a good job
as always. But, nevertheless, I checked the hull for any residual
damage. Finding none, I entered the ship and checked it also. I
found nothing wrong with it. I went to the cockpit and fired my
engines. I called for take-off permission and received it. I blasted
off and punched in coordinates for Nal Hutta. I entered hyperspace
wondering if I had made the correct decision in hunting Manor.
My time in hyperspace gave me a chance
to think about the past, especially Black Sun and Kankil Manor.
I could remember the first day that I arrived on Nal Hutta to meet
Kankil Manor. I had received a transmission directly from the ruler
of Black Sun, Prince Xizor. Xizor had commanded me to fly to Nal
Hutta and meet a man at the Lanic spaceport. I was to say that I
was Sun 2. He would reply with my real name. I would then be under
his command. As soon as the message from Xizor was done, I had sprinted
to my ship and blasted off. I landed at the spaceport and a man
walked up to my ship. That had been my first glimpse of Kankil Manor.
He was a short man with dark hair. He was almost as wide as he was
tall but he moved like a viper. I spoke to him and gave my password.
He told me my name and took me through customs to his shop. I worked
for him for 2 years. After those years I left Black Sun to pursue
my own interests.
My nav computer broke my thought.
It was signaling that I would be exiting hyperspace in two minutes.
I readied myself for whatever lay ahead. I came out of hyperspace
into a firefight. I juked to starboard to avoid a laser bolt. The
ship that was being fired on was a friend of mine's, Cay Qel-Droma.
His ship was being attacked by a heavily modified fighter of dubious
origin. I tried to contact Cay but his communications were down.
I fired a warning shot over the bow of the fighter. My comm button
beeped and I answered it.
"Who in the hell are you?"
The voice was that of Kankil Manor.
I had come all this way to capture him and here he was right in
my sights.
"Recognize this voice, Manor?"
"How the hell do you know my
name? Never mind I don't want to know." With that statement
Manor's fighter turned away from Cay's ship and took off towards
the planet. I gave chase but as my ship is not all that great I
failed to catch him before he was able to make landfall. I landed
at the same spaceport and tried to decide where he would have gone.
I exited my ship with an idea as to
where he had gone. I hoped he still ran the same business that he
had run when I had worked for him. I walked through the city taking
in all the familiar sites but I was amazed at how much the planet
had changed since I had been there. The planet seemed even seedy
and dirtier than before.
I arrived at the shop that housed
Manor's organization. There were two guards at the door. I stopped
across the street from the building and decided to wait for Manor
to come out. I entered the bar across the street from Manor's office
and ordered a drink. I sat down at one of the booths that was situated
so I could look out the window and watch the street.
I was there for a couple of hours
when I noticed the guards changing. One of the guards who came out
looked awfully familiar. He walked around the structure a couple
of times and then walked down the street. I lost sight of him after
about 50 feet. I forgot about him and watched the building.
After a few minutes the guard entered
the bar and walked over to my booth. He sat down, without an invitation.
Not many people had done that and lived to tell the tale.
"You don't know who I am do you,
Jodo?"
"Manor!"
"Don't move, I have you covered."
"Oh really. I'm sure you do.
So what are you going to do?" While I said this I was trying
to figure some way out of this mess.
"I haven't decided. I may kill
you or just beat you to a bloody pulp again. Which would you prefer?"
"Neither," I said and as
I said that I started to formulate a plan.
"Well, I don't think you will
get your wish." He nodded as he said this and I decided now
would be a good time to act.
I wear a vest which has a few surprises
in it. One of these is it can create a holoimage of me within 5
feet of me. It is activated by a certain way of breathing. I took
a breath and the holoimage appeared about 3 feet from the booth.
Manor exclaimed and a laser bolt went through the image from across
the street. I dove out of the booth and fired at the guard outside
of the shop with my blaster rifle. I cut him down without much fuss.
I glanced at Manor and noticed he was drawing a blaster. I quickly
drew my blaster pistol, which is always set on stun, and shot him
in the chest. He twitched and fell to the floor. I stood up and
looked around. The street looked clear and so did the bar. No one
was pulling blasters or running at me, screaming for my blood. I
picked up Manor, noticing that he didn't look very tough now. I
left the bar and walked to the shipyard.
When I reached the shipyard, they
wouldn't let me in. I flashed my IPKC and the bounty report on Manor.
They let me pass. I walked to my ship but when I arrived I had a
bad feeling. I dropped Manor and walked around my ship. As I came
around the ship, two men flanked Manor who was now standing. He
spoke with a slightly wavering voice.
"Now Jodo let's not be hasty."
"About what Manor? I'm going
to deliver good on the bounty on your head."
"About that bounty. I'll offer
you that much money to leave me alone," he replied sounding
very strange. I finally realized what it was I heard in his voice.
It was FEAR. He was scared of me, the man I had been frightened
of for so many years.
"I don't think so Manor,"
I said as I drew my pistol and stunned Kankil. His two cronies opened
fire on me. I dove behind one of the landing struts of my ship and
returned fire with my blaster rifle. I cut both of them down within
seconds and I didn't even break a sweat.
I walked over to Manor's fallen body
and kicked him once. He groaned and I picked him up. I carried him
to my ship and boarded it. I delivered Manor to Tuss and received
my reward. I sometimes wonder what happened to the man but when
that comes up I just forget about it. Why should I worry about a
two-bit crime boss like Kankil Manor?
JRNY/Jodo Kast/Daichi/BHG-H
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