Private No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons:
Tag: Jenn Kryze

For the first time in his life (totally), Gatz Derrevar had been caught during a smuggling run.

What was he smuggling? Spice? Nope. Weapons? Strike two. Kyber? You're out. No, Gatz was smuggling much needed medical supplies to the besieged, and historically abused people of Ryloth. So, naturally, the one time he was using his less-than-legal skills for good, was the one time he managed to get himself caught. It was abundantly clear that a year of not using those skills had led them to deteriorate and rust.

He wasn't sure whether to be happy or annoyed by that.

Considering he was tied up on a rickety old dock, and facing execution by cinderblock tied to ankle (really, why not just shoot him?), Gatz was going to go with "annoyed" at the current moment. There was a gaggle of Mandos standing in front of him, all playing guard as if one unarmed smuggler could do anything to any single one of them. Or maybe they wanted to see him drown. Frankly, he neither knew nor cared.

Gatz was more focused on the beskar clad man in front of him, who was reading him the Mandalorian version of the riot act, and listing all the ways Gatz had breached their law or code. Funny, that. They turned Ukatis to rubble, pushed their way into Alliance territory, but wanted to dress him down for being somewhere he shouldn't. Was Ryloth really that boring? Did they need to posture before killing him?

"For the last time," Gatz interjected dully, tired of giving the same argument, "I'm not an Alliance spy, or representative, or Jedi. I'm from Naboo. I'm neutral in your conflict. I'm just here to deliver aid."

Just like all the other times before, he was ignored, and the Mandalorians continued to speak about him as if he wasn't right in front of them.

Well, he hoped he drowned quickly.

 

[Jenn Kryze]

​

| Location | Ryloth
| Objective | Save that di'kut before it's too late.

Rooting out insurgents was not exactly Jenn's favorite occupation. Hell, it might be the one she liked the least, considering her attempts to stand against the Crusade... but if she was to keep her credibility, then she had to acknowledge the fact that she was a Protector of all who fell under the control of the Mandalorian Enclave. And in the wake of the brutal fighting against the Jedi, Ryloth was now under their control - and thus, under the jurisdiction of the Karjr. One of whom had called her over. An old friend, perhaps, although Jenn found their relation strained by their opposite viewpoints concerning the ongoing war.

Returning from a patrol with the Karjr, she only found herself wondering just how far the Enclave would have to go to make the Twi'lek of Ryloth understand who they were dealing with. Letting an insurgency form, and perhaps even spread to other worlds, was unacceptable. Even the prudent smith could understand the danger of letting enmity fester and threaten the integrity of the core worlds, especially when they needed to prepare for the inevitable counter-attack by the Alliance. So, when Karima offered to buy her a drink at a local cantina, she opened her mouth to accept... only for her eyes to linger on a small gathering of her people. "Hold this", asked the siren as she handed her blaster repeater over to her, walking on over to the commotion with a frown behind her helmet.

And when Gatz denied being an Alliance spy, a familiar voice rose up, prompting the rest of the Mandalorian to turn her way as well.

"And yet, I can sense your presence in the Manda, Gatz Derrevar, and you are known to the Jedi. You may very well be a spy for the SIA, or the Jedi themselves." Those who knew her were surprised to find such a self-styled Protector here, and levelling such accusations - especially after her impassioned speech on Scarif. Nevertheless, her arrival was respected, and when she turned to the one who had spoken to the reformed smuggler, all but ignoring the blonde, they shared a nod of acknowledgement. And, naturally, words spoken in Mando'a. Until she turned back to look his way, and returned to Basic.

"This man saved my life", she finally declared. "For no gain of his own. Even if he did stand on the wrong side, you found no weapons in his cargo hold, and he has never been recorded as a combatant."

That, evidently, gave them all some pause.

​

Gatz Derrevar ​

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons:
Tag: Jenn Kryze

When Gatz saw Jenn pushing her way through the crowd, he let out a sigh of relief.

Until she started talking.

He'd saved her life. Shown her comrade honor. And this was how he was going to be repaid? She was going to level the same accusations at him that her people were spitting? Jenn, of all Mandalorians, knew he was neither Alliance nor Jedi. But it seemed that she didn't have the stones to stand up to her comrades to tell them that.

He was going to have to find a different way out of this. Give Briana Sal-Soren a mental ring? No, that was pointless. She was worlds away. So he looked down to the cinderblock chained around his ankle. His hands were tied, and Gatz didn't have the time or discretion to unbind them. But he didn't need his hands to pick up that block. He could raise it with the Force, throw it at one of the Mandalorians, and shatter the duracrete against their beskar. Then, at least, he could try to make a run for it.

That wouldn't do much to convince them he wasn't a Jedi, but they were going to kill him anyways, so...

Oh who was he kidding. He wouldn't make it five feet.

"I'd take the Jedi and the Alliance over you damn Crusaders any day of the week, don't misunderstand me." Gatz stood up. If he was going to die, let it be on his feet, "you're monsters, the lot of you. I saw what you did to Ukatis. Unprovoked. You bombed a civilian target, left a hospital in ruins, and killed god knows how many innocent people. I pulled a toddler out of the rubble of an apartment complex. And that was only one of many."

Jenn spoke in his favor then, after exchanging a few words with the Mandalorian lambasting them, but Gatz no longer cared. He didn't have much to live for anyways.

"All you do is hurt people. The Mandalorian people are capable of so much more, but bloodshed is all you choose. I came here—independent and of my own free will—to bring medical supplies to the people of Ryloth. To people that you have abused. If the punishment for that is death, then so be it. I'd rather die than spend another second surrounded by monsters like you."

That was it. He'd crossed the line. So be it. In many ways, he still deserved death. Silver lining though: at least Briana would get her privacy back. Downside, though: there was no one left to bury him. But hey, what did he care? He'd be dead in thirty seconds.

He just hoped Briana or Valery would take care of R4.

"And you're the most disappointing of all, Kryze," Gatz leveled his eyes to his would-be savior, "all that talk of being better, and this is what you choose? I know I used to be a real piece of shit, but at least I'm doing something about it."

 

[Jenn Kryze]

​

| Location | Ryloth
| Objective | For every action, a reaction

Gatz could very well have made it out of the uncomfortable situation he had found himself in if he merely kept quiet and allowed Jenn to speak - or followed her example and appealed to their sense of honor. But, as soon as his mouth opened and he insulted the proud warriors before him, something changed. There was no denying the shift in the atmosphere, all of those T and Y visors turning towards him, staring a hole through the reformed smuggler as he went on about Ukatis and the devastation they had left there.

It was when Gatz turned his gaze to looks towards Jenn, delivering such words of condemnation, that she finally lost her patience. Every single time she had met citizens of the Galactic Alliance, the Mandalorian had shown restraint, even in the face of insults and accusations. But now, here came a smuggler, on a world that belonged to her people, to spit upon the honor of her people - before directing his ire towards her?

No. Enough was enough.

Jenn flowed like water, moving with speed and purpose- to slam her fist against Gatz's face. It had be enough to make a ruin of Senator Fortan's nose aboard the Ans Corvo, and she had no doubt that it would humble the blonde. Then again, she was not using her jetpack for added momentum this time, so perhaps he would be capable of thinking straight. Or perhaps not - watching him crumple to the ground did little to bring her satisfaction, her anger still burning bright.

SHUK!

The vambrace-mounted vibroblade emerged from within the confines of the lovingly-crafted armor, ready to have its thirst slaked in blood. For the first time in many, many months, Jenn abandoned herself to the call of her nature as a siren, and her creed as a warrior. Such a slight demanded recompense. Swiftly, moving with speed and grace, she all but leap upon him, blade at the ready-

THUK.

The vibroblade buried itself in the ground, a mere inch from his face.

​

Gatz Derrevar ​

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons:
Tag: Jenn Kryze

The beskar fist struck Gatz in the face, and he went tumbling to the ground. He hit the soggy wood of the dock hard, splintering a few planks of wood. Moments later, a blade buried itself in front of his face. Intimidation? Or was Jenn intentionally pulling the final blow? Either way it didn't matter: if she didn't kill him, one of the others would.

And he wouldn't die in a crumpled up heap on the ground.

Gatz forced himself onto one knee—a difficult task with his hands bound—and spat blood on Jenn's visor.

"Does it feel good, beating a man who can't protect himself? So honorable. But at least it's a step up from slaughtering children—”

The rickety wood of the dock snapped. The cinder block fell in. And Gatz was tugged along with it.

He sank fast, faster than he would have expected. For a moment, he struggled, trying in vain to fell his hands from the rope tied around them. But even if he succeeded, he'd still have the chain connected to the block clasped around his ankle. No way he could break that, not without some kind of tool or weapon. And even if he managed that there were still a dozen Mandalorians ready to kill him.

Gatz stopped fighting.

He deserved this end. Drowning sucked, but at least he was dying with noble intentions: calling out Jenn and her monsters. Trying his best to help the people of Ryloth. Really, it was a better death than he deserved, after all the things he'd done. As far as exits went... well, this wasn't bad.

He'd tried, in the end. He really had. He hoped that counted for something.

Gatz closed his eyes, and sank.

 

[Jenn Kryze]

​

| Location | Ryloth
| Objective | Decisions, decisions

Jenn wanted to punch a hole through his neck with that vibroblade of hers - to watch his life ebb away before her. She had come to rescue him, and instead of accepting her aid, Gatz had shown her and her people nothing but spite and disrespect. The bloody spit staining her visor was but another nail in the coffin. Everything inside of her called out for his death, screamed out to her for retribution! And yet, she could not bring herself to end him, to let the vibroblade sink into his flesh. That arrogant fool had saved her life, and showed a desire to change, to redeem himself. Cutting his thread now felt... wrong.

Before she could act, the wood snapped, and Gatz sank. The Mandalorians watched as he disappeared beneath the brackish waters, as if swallowed by them. Silence fell over them as they watched the water grow still... before one of them turned heels, followed by another, then another. Before long, only Jenn remained on the docks, lost in thought. So many people in the galaxy deserved death, and perhaps Gatz was one of them... but the power to give life had always been greater than the power to give death. Inhaling deeply through her gills, the cerulean figure rose to her feet, taking one step back, then another... before diving down into the waters after him.

Something reached out to take a hold of Gatz as he sank - arms looping around his own from behind, dragging him up as consciousness would inevitably begin to ebb. Everything was difficult to perceive, when one stood on the brink of death. But, eventually, the soaked smuggler would find himself brought to the surface and dragged on over to the shoreline, fingers snapping in front of his face - and a familiar voice calling for his name over him.

Jenn hated transforming so blindly, so unexpectedly. It would take her hours to find those pieces of beskar that made up her graves, and longer still to repair her undersuit after her transformation all but ripped it apart below the waist. But, given how little time Gatz had left, there was no time for her to fuss over such details.

How amusing, that she had never quite rescued someone with the help of her peculiar nature before.

​

Gatz Derrevar ​

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons:
Tag: Jenn Kryze

The last of his air escaped his lips in tiny bubbles.

The cinder block finally hit the murky ground at the bottom of the lake, sinking in deep. Gatz had already given up any hopes of escaping, but it certainly wasn't possible for him now. He had no way to cut the chain. He'd been condemned to death by someone he'd called a friend. Someone whose life he had saved. But, Gatz supposed that was the truth of the galaxy: no good deed went unpunished.

I should have let her bleed out.

No. He forced that thought from his head. That's what he would have done, a few years ago. That's what that man would have done, and if he had to die, he wouldn't die as that man. Saving a life was always the right thing to do. He had to believe that, even if it ended poorly for himself. Gatz would die, but he wouldn't die regretting a selfless action.

There was good left in the galaxy, despite everything. It was worth fighting for. He'd fought, and he'd lost. That was okay. That... was okay...

---

Gatz shot up, taking in a gasp of air. It was cut short, as water regurgitated from his body, and he hunched over on his side to let it out.

Wait a minute, was he alive? How? His eyes snapped to the figure in front of him, and he had his answer.

What was this, a cruel form of torture? Tie him up, beat him senseless, let him drown underwater, and then pull him up at the last minute? That was way worse than waterboarding—and, yes, he'd been waterboarded before. So what was next? Was she going to drag him back to their camp, beat him some more, and finally shoot him?

At this point, Gatz wasn't going to put it past her.

"First you try to kill me, for calling you out on your war crimes." Gatz spat out, "and now you save my life? What's your game, Kryze? Wanna beat on me a little more?"

 

[Jenn Kryze]

​

| Location | Ryloth
| Objective | Decisions made

"You're such an idiot!" hissed the Mandalorian in response to the smuggler's words. "How did you think this was going to go, insulting honor-bound on their home turf? Uh? You couldn't have just - kept your mouth shut, and let me handle it? I was going to get you off the hook, you moron!"

Well, that was certainly an outburst and a half. Clearly angered by his reaction, Jenn moved away from her initial position, propped up on her hands to look over his body with worry as she had been, and began hastily retreating over to the water... and perhaps a little clumsily. After all, that tail of hers made it difficult for her to maneuver on land, and she would hardly put it past Gatz to step on her fin to keep her pinned in place. Letting people see her - the real her - was something she reserved for the closest of friends, not for, for... whatever the blonde was now. At least, her soak in the water had brought her some measure of clarity. Even to acknowledge that killing him would not be right.

The Ersansyr was all too happy to return to the embrace of the water, away from the vulnerability that came with being on land. With only her head and shoulders visible, that Y visor of hers remained firmly locked onto the foolhardy, if kind-hearted pilot. "They'll think you're dead." Never before had her voice been so glacial. "My friend will go and distract them for a few minutes on my mark- long enough for you to get on board your ship, and get the hell off our world."

She had no intention of addressing his accusations of war crimes. Her patience for outsiders levelling accusations at her had reached an all time low.

​

Gatz Derrevar ​

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Blaster Pistol
Tag: Jenn Kryze

"How did you think this was going to go, insulting honor-bound on their home turf?"

"Your people have no honor! They lost any right to that claim, after I pulled dead children out of the hospital they reduced to a crater!"

Did she expect a thank you? For him to excuse their brutality, their debauched acts? Gatz was new to being a decent person, but even at his worst, he'd never laid a single finger on a child. But Jenn and her people? They couldn't say the same. They'd invaded the Alliance in an act of war—a war in which they were the aggressors!

And she dared to lecture him?

Then she had the gall to claim Ryloth for the Mandalorians? After what they had done to the Twi'lek people? Something Dark pulsed in Gatz. Righteous anger filled him. She was a monster, like the rest of her people. He was a fool, to ever believe she was different. Today had made that all too clear. She wasn't better. Not like she'd claimed. She was exactly the same as the rest of the Mandalorians.

Gatz knew that he deserved to die. Jenn and her people deserved worse.

Gatz had no weapon. Even if he had, a blaster would just bounce off of beskar. No knife would pierce it. But... he had the Force. And under her armor, Jenn had a very vulnerable neck. Really, it wouldn't be all that different from telekinesis. Instead of gripping a rock, he'd be gripping her throat. Cut off her air, just like how she and her people had just tried to cut off his. Permanently.

I could do it. It would be so easy.

But revenge was not the Jedi way.

"Ryloth doesn't belong to you." Gatz stood, dripping and miserable, but more determined than he'd ever been, "enjoy your Crusade while you can, Jenn. The tides will turn. You'll lose. Your people always do."

Gatz turned, and staggered away from the monster he had called a friend.

 

[Jenn Kryze]

​

| Location | Ryloth
| Objective | And what comes beside

Jenn could hardly run after him - not without transforming first, and turning from her true form to the one she had to stay in most of the time because of how horrid the galaxy was to her people. Hell, to merfolk in general, really. Gatz had his mind made up, that much she could see: and, now that she had retreated to the water, there was no reason for her to do more. The debt she owed him after he had rescued her had been repaid when she saved his life just now, and gave him enough of a window of opportunity to get his ship back, so long as he swallowed his pride long enough to contact her as soon as he was in position in order for her to cause the distraction.

There was no point for her to call after him, either, but she did so anyway. "I'm not a Crusader!"

It was less of a scream, and more of a banshee's wail. Somewhere between the hypnotic beauty she could manifest... and something far more horrifying besides. Slapping her tailfin against the water behind her, she felt nothing but spite. Dismissed as yet another warmonger again, no matter how hard she tried, and how many people she sought to converse with, how many Jedi she showed patience and kindness to. "We'll see how sorry you feel when the Alliance gouges out my home, you karking hypocrite! Oh, it's all so easy, isn't it? When we show our fangs, you call us all monsters, even me, who just saved your pathetic life and rejected the Crusade!"

Her voice would haunt him, even if he chose to keep on walking, to stumble away from the beach- words uttered by one who had been ever so hurt by the loss of a friend, but above all, infuriated by how easily he dismissed her as a monster, and looked upon her people as savages. Jenn kept on trying, again and again, to be a better person. To show Padawans, Knights, and Masters alike that she was different. That one day, peace could be achieved with the Mandalorians, that their creed had not made them who they were - that they could yet change, grow, evolve. But having a friend reject her so easily was too much. Now, her voice all but echoed inside of his very mind, beautiful and terrible, leaving him no escape from her accusations. Hearing such a beautiful, tantalizing voice taken with such wrath felt... unnerving.

"What do you know of struggle, Gatz? I grow tired of listening to you wretches yelling to me about honor! Do you even know the meaning of that word? Honor is fighting the Empire that murdered your people by the millions, no matter that their armies outnumber you a hundred to one! Honor is resisting an Alliance of tyrants when all others suckle and grow fat on the hypocrisy it feeds them! Honor is standing by your brothers and sisters as everything you have ever known is turned to embers! YOU KNOW NOTHING OF HONOR!"

​

Gatz Derrevar ​

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Blaster Pistol
Tag: Jenn Kryze

As Gatz staggered away, so exhausted he might be dead.

Then Jenn's voice rang in his head, more shrill than it had ever been. In any other situation, thanks to Briana and Valery, he'd have had the willpower to shut her out. The walls to his mind were kept under a careful lock and key these days, impenetrable to being breached by untrained Force-sensitives. But he couldn't be expected to be at his best, after he'd just drowned.

But for all the words she threw at him, Gatz only had one response.

"Your people chose this war. Your people invaded. Your people butchered innocents."

The Alliance was far from perfect. But it didn't start wars of aggression. The Jedi were hypocrites, it was true. But they wouldn't wholesale slaughter an entire people. Even the Alliance, as flawed as it was, wouldn't destroy a world unless the Mandalorians outright refused peace. He hoped they wouldn't. Even now, after what he'd seen, he still hoped for a peaceful resolution to the war.

He knew better.

"Maybe you're different. I sure as hell want to believe that. But, right now, you're standing with the people who butchered the children of Ukatis." Gatz paused for a moment, and added, "thank you for saving my life."

With an effort of will, Gatz snapped shut the entrance to his mind, and stalked back to his ship.

 

[Jenn Kryze]

​

| Location | Ryloth
| Objective | Rage and Despair

It was all but impossible for an Ersansyr to scream themselves hoarse, but Jenn certainly pushed the boundaries in that moment. The further Gatz went, both in terms of his physical location as well the hold she maintained around his mind, the more angry she sounded. Angry... and desperate as well. The near-animalistic rage of a siren finding her words thrown back into her face, eloquence and honesty alike discarded - melded with the very human fear and regrets of someone desperate enough to beg for a friend to come back to them.

"Don't leave!" she called out, all but sinking the talons of her influence into his mind, deeper than ever before. The more control he regained over himself, the more faint her voice became: merely heard through the ears, rather than felt through the Force. "Come back! Gatz, come back!" For all of her attempts, it was a losing battle, and somewhere deep in her heart, she realizes it, even as she swam closer to the shore in a mad, hopeless attempt for her voice to reach just a little further, to try and tug at his very consciousness with its enthralling properties.

"Come back!"

​

Gatz Derrevar ​