Private Finding Velok

[Dagon Kaze]

SAK SGURRH
TEMORZHAI RIDGE

Dagon Kaze did not know what to fear more - the extreme cold or actually finding the elusive Velok Brokentusk . The young Jedi had set himself on this daunting task on his own volition. Whilst the galaxy tore itself in perpetual war between giants, opportunists like Brokentusk found perfect grounds to reap the benefits of weakened states and Jedi Orders. Finding a lead on the Whipid who often held planets under hostage led him to the planet of Gertafuu VI.

Much like Bernard some time ago, Dagon disembarked from his X-Wing and found shelter from the frigid cold inside the village's sole watering hole. The cloaked figure of the Jedi barely took the attention of the patrons, or if it did the padawan did not notice it. He shuffled to the bar itself, greeted the barkeep and said politely, yet with a slither of worry:

"I am looking for Brokentusk. Do you know where I can find him?"

 

[Velok Brokentusk]

The Whiphid barkeep grunted and pointed thattaway with his tusks. 'Thattaway' proved to be a dark corner of Sak Sgurrh's lone public house, occupied by several especially large and hairy Whiphids. They were playing five-finger-fillet, which is a very different game when you have two fingers and a thumb and your work-knives are the size of human swords. One of said Whiphids had broken tusks capped with silver. He didn't look up. In fact he didn't even notice the human other than a twitch of the nostrils and a growl of the stomach. His focus remained on the high-speed combination of big knives, big hands, and much-abused tabletop.

Dagon Kaze

 

[Dagon Kaze]

Dagon glanced at the pointed direction, sighed, swallowed and slid a few credits at the barkeep. He was rather big for a human, but Whipids were behemoths in comparison to him. Sure, being a Jedi helped maintain some confidence but seeing someone playing five-finger-fillet with knives long as actual swords made one think twice. The creeping feeling of the possibility of facing Brokentusk did not help at all, either.

The Jedi ambled at the designated table and his eyes fell on the silver tusks illuminated by the dim light of the pub.

"Greetings. I've come seeking the one called Brokentusk." he said with a lowered voice.

If the galaxy did not spin on a humanocentric narrative, then perhaps Dagon would've distinguished one of the Whipids as Brokentusk himself.

Alas.

Velok Brokentusk

 

[Velok Brokentusk]

The Whiphid with broken tusks looked up from the table, though the huge knife kept moving.

"Find a Whiphid with broken tusks," he said in a voice that registered on the Richter scale.

Dagon Kaze

 

[Dagon Kaze]

And then it dawned upon him, just as the Whipid with broken tusks' voice reverberated his bones.

"You--" his breathing ceased and instincts rolled in - he felt the hilt of his lightsaber in his hands.

"--under arrest."

The Jedi wasn't sure what he was expecting.

Velok Brokentusk

 

[Velok Brokentusk]

The knife paused.

"This is autonomous Whiphid territory on Gertafuu Six, just barely inside the border of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Do you have jurisdiction here?"

He sniffed the air.

"Somehow I doubt it. You're a Jedi. You reek of burlap and sexual repression."

 

[Dagon Kaze]

Dagon blinked, taken aback.

"I--" he began with a slight stutter before he shook his head and continued. "You are a wanted man on at least twelve systems."

"Come in peace."

 

[Velok Brokentusk]

"And I assume your bounty hunting license with the Confederacy is current? May I see it?"

Dagon Kaze

 

[Dagon Kaze]

“I—wh—“

He was interrupted again.

 

[Velok Brokentusk]

Velok sighed expansively and sheathed the huge knife. The other Whiphids kept playing, blades thudding into the table between their fingers.

"I'm sorry, but this isn't appropriate at all. I'm going to need to speak to your supervisor. I'd like a contact number for your Jedi Council."

He gave Dagon Kaze the eye.

"They do know you came here, yes? This isn't, what's the Jedi phrase, some damn fool idealistic crusade?"

 

[Dagon Kaze]

"B-b--ut." he found no words as the verbal barrage came down upon him with fury.

"You're a Sith who holds planets hostages!" the confusion mixed in with a note of naivety.

Velok Brokentusk

 

[Velok Brokentusk]

Velok shrugged.

"Where's the harm in it so far? I've never yet burned one. I do my research, pick the perfect target, show up, make a credible threat, and some rich Jedi pays through the nose. Then I turn around and build a decent future for my species. I certainly don't do this for the fun or the money. Think of them more like the garnish, less like the main dish."

Dagon Kaze

 

[Dagon Kaze]

Checkmate.

Dagon remained silent for a long minute there. Indoctrination met reality. It reminded him of hearing Master Heavenshield's reasoning of siding with the Dark Lord of the Sith.

"And...and the next time when there is no rich Jedi to pay?" he dreaded the answer.

Velok Brokentusk

 

[Velok Brokentusk]

Dagon Kaze

"I'll tell you a secret. I would never burn a world unless a reasonable observer would blame the Jedi. Nobody shows up to my provocations? Maybe I make a show of strength, but nothing that would put a million-credit bounty on my head. But if the Jedi played me false, pulled a fast one, didn't negotiate in good faith - and I could prove it to the public? That's probably the only time I would push the button. Sensible enough, yes?"