Catch Me If You Can......

[Cloudburner]

Walking among the deserts of Tatooine was horrible for Cloudburner, he was hot and sweaty, and any bounty hunter could arrive at any second to take him out. He had his Silver Jedi Peacemaker armour on.

He arrived at Mos Eisley. The Place he had the best and worst times at.

He stopped, at the sight of a Stormtrooper [member="OK-3103"] .

He held his lightsaber.

"You here to pick up the bounty?"

 

[OK-3103]

Talk about wrong place and wrong time. His escape pod – the one he was testing for the new First Order destroyer had malfunctioned – or rather creatures had eaten away at cabling that caused it to crash. Then he’d had to endure a sandstorm and realised the escape pod was fried beyond sending back a signal to locate it. And given his trooper helmet’s comlink was short-range only; he’d been forced to find the nearest settlement. He didn’t even know which planet he was on, let alone the place. He didn’t need to know the star system during trials – it was above his pay grade. But it was hot – he’d found that out.

Peeking its fiery orange head over the horizon, one of the twin suns head earlier announced another hot and dry day on Tatooine. The second now appeared and sunlight streamed through his helmet visor, forcing it to polarise to protect his eyes.

Cutting through a shadowy alley across the street from yet another cantina – surely there had to be something resembling a space-port near here? For a town that rarely slept, Mos Eisley seemed unusually quiet this morning. Which was when he encountered the Jedi. He presumed it was given the saber hilt and the armour. Basic training covered these things. Along with the advice not to engage one, unless there was at least a squad of you, preferably two.

So he didn’t immediately go for the rifle slung over his shoulder. Instead he paused and then spoke, carefully and slowly.

“OK-3103, trooper of the 501st. I’m actually here to hitch a ride back home, so no, I’m not looking to collect on any bounty.” In truth the money meant nothing to him. He would never see it if he did collect – the First Order would take it. And what did he need with credits anyway? He had all he needed and progression to becoming an officer was all that mattered. But then, capturing a Jedi with a price on his head? That would certainly help with any promotion. Surely?

“But if you’re looking to hand yourself in, I will gladly accept your surrender.”

[member="Cloudburner"]

 

[Cloudburner]

"Even though I don't go by the First Order's ideology, I'd like you to arrest me and give me to the bounty placer if you can. I'm planning something. Something big."

He breathed a second. Stormtroopers were tasked with shooting and killing, and of course arresting, but nothing else. He wanted to tell the Stormtrooper of the position he was in, and how he could use the trooper's help, and let the trooper get the rewards for it, but Cloudburner and the First Order shared no ideology that would let him help them. They fought for the Dark Side of the Force, the remains of the ancient Galactic Empire, and he fought for justice and peace.

"Do you know of the bounty on my head?"

He was ready to pull out his weapon if the trooper did, but his one seemed friendly, almost too good to be true.

"I can award you, the First Order, anybody you wish, with 1.1 Million credits, if you turn me in to the bounty placer, some Crime Lord named James Justice or something, and help me escape. I'll fight for your cause if you wan't me to. Listen, I'm a Jedi. Some of the most famous, powerful Sith Lords were former Jedi, so if you help me, I can do anything for you, even turn to the Dark Side of the Force. Understand?"

This would lead him to his destruction or his rule of the Galaxy, either way, he wanted to kill all of the bounty placers, all of the Mandalorians, unlike most Jedi, but like the First Order.

[member="OK-3103"]

 

[OK-3103]

There was a commonly held belief that stormtroopers were dumb – and not very good shots. This defined simple logic. They were, like Jedi, trained from a young age to do what they excelled at – fight. From small arms to explosives to engineering, they were competent at most infantry skills and a specialist in a few.

OK-3103 was a master tactician and the best in his class at hand-to-hand combat. His Echani training was extensive and he’d reached the third tier.

But even he struggled to understand what was happening here. Was this Jedi looking to be caught – without a fight – and handed over for 3103 to collect the bounty for the First Order? On the face of it he was – but it didn’t make a whole lot of sense. And even for someone that was driven by following orders without question, something jarred.

“This something big? Is it something I should be concerned about?” Heaven forbid he aided the Jedi in bringing down the Knights of Ren. “And no, we don’t concern ourselves with bounties – just the fugitive. If you’ve ever transgressed the Order, or caused an infringement on an Order planet, I’m duty bound to arrest you. If you’re a Jedi, I probably ought to hand you over to the Knights of Ren, but given the challenge of transporting you all the way back to base by myself? I’ll settle for handing you to the authorities here.”

Then he heard the name of a specific bounty placer – James Justice. Once more, not known to him. “If the bounty is placed by him, he’ll be informed of your capture by the authorities here. The helping you escape bit,” he scratched his head, through his helmet – which clearly defeated the object, but he did it anyway. “Well you’ll have to run that by me again.”

[member="Cloudburner"]

 

[Cloudburner]

"Very well, then. Just a question, but will the bounty be paid off if I become a fugitive?"

He knew that the Stormtrooper was one of the friendliest he had met, and one of the one's which when asked, still remained to keep his cool. This was risky, but it was worth a shot. He would try to use a Jedi Mind Trick to get past the Trooper.

"You will escort me to James Justice, from there you will protect me while I slaughter and destroy his company and their ships."

He smiled.

"...and then you will be paid in Beskar Armour, Credits, weapons, and a house on Tatooine."

He had hoped this would work.

[member="OK-3103"]

 

[OK-3103]

Was the Jedi asking him about bounties?

“I can’t pretend I’m an expert in these matters, but once I hand you over to the local bounty office, they will secure you, verify your identity and I get paid. Or rather the First Order will get paid. I neither need nor want the credits. If you subsequently escape, then that’s not my business is it? A deal is a deal. You get handed over, the bounty placer hands over the credits. They would need to keep their bend of the bargain or the bounty board would refuse to accept another bounty from them? Surely?”

Echani was a useful martial art – but it wasn’t Teräs Käsi. He was as susceptible to the Mind Trick as any non-Force User. But it was a temporary thing, an idea planted would not last indefinitely. At any point, his mind might rebel at the suggestion and a subsequent Mind Trick would likely be more difficult to try.

But for now it had the desired effect. “I will escort you to James Justice, from there I will protect you while you slaughter and destroy his company and their ships.”

[member="Cloudburner"]

 

[Cloudburner]

"You will place handcuffs on me and escort me to [member="James Justice"] to collect the bounty."

This was going better than expected. He had hoped [member="James Justice"] was awake at his house or wherever he lives to reward [member="OK-3103"] for collecting the bounty, and then he will experience the hardest moment of his life losing his company and his Daughters.

 

[OK-3103]

OK-3103 cuffed the Jedi and headed for the spaceport, to escort the fugitive to [member="James Justice"]'s custody. If the bounty placer would travel to Mos Eisely to collect his prize, so much the better for the First Order trooper.

[member="Cloudburner"]