In time (open duel)

[General Dan]

<center><font size=-2>In Time, by Mark Collie

I can hear what you're thinking,
All your doubts and fears,
And if you look in my eyes, in time you'll find,
The reason I'm here.

And in time all things shall pass away,
In time, you may come back someday.
To live once more, or die once more,
But in time, your time will be no more.

You know your days are numbered,
Count them one by one,
Like notches in the handle of an outlaw's gun.
You can outrun the devil, if you try,
But you'll never outrun the hands of time.

In time there surely, come a day
In time all things shall pass away,
In time you may come back some say.
To live once more, or die once more,
But in time, your time will be no more.</font></center>



The planet's name was Last Stop. There wasn't another rock for another six parsecs.

The surface was barren, wind-swept red stone for as far as the eye could see. Sand was a welcome variety, as was the occasional water-starved sapling that had grown from whatever seed had fallen from a wayfaring space traveller's boot, and taken a sip of his sweat. The only sound was wind. The planet breathed.

There was a weigh station conspicuously close to the equator. It was the only tourist attraction on Last Stop. It looked like it had pre-dated the Clone Wars by a good few decades. The only thing keeping the building from collapsing in on itself was the wind's cruel sense of humor. Adjacent to the decrepit station, a man sat quietly on a rusted bench, with a shooting iron gleaming silver across his lap.

He looked across the rocky plain to his starship, which was taking a thirsty gulp of fuel from the weigh station's reserve tank. Who filled the thing, he could only guess. He left a few credits on the station's paint-flaked countertop. Not as an act of charity, but because it was his nature to do it. He was an unkind man, but a discriminating one.

He'd been running for three weeks now. Taking a look at the orange sky, he figured it was about time for him to stop. Eventually, all rattlesnakes bite.

[Adia Issoris]

Adia's beaten Lamba class shuttle settled down near Dan's ship, the only other visible means of leaving Last Stop.

Last Stop existed only because it was located on the Rimma Trade Route, and had a proper oxygen based atmosphere.

After Serna Pur, Adia had hardend even more, physically. Her body didn't seem to be retaining fat on her face. It lent her a stone look. She passed two men, one who owned the ship, and the other who was part of the scenery. There were a dozen Last Stops, who only held a population because it was on a trade route, because it was a convient place to have a weigh station.

The only thing older than the weigh station's decript structure was Adia's vibrosword, which hung from her belt like a tail hangs on a cat. Her off-white cloak's bottom edge was a special brown.

Self serve was how this place worked. The shuttle's fuel port door was jammed. The short assassin looked it over before slamming her fist into the ship. With a little extra effort, Adia was able to start fueling.

[General Dan]

Dan pressed his thumb against the primer actuator on his blaster, but not so far as to fully c0ck it. Seeing that Adia's concern was tending to her ship, prolonging the inevitable was the course of action. He slid the chromed barrel into a well-worn holster. The soft, wrinkled leather creaked as it flawlessly assumed the contours of the gun it had held for decades.

Now, it was her move. Dan had all the time in the world.

As she refueled, the gunslinger took time to painstakingly roll a cigarette. Cupping against the wind with a wrinkled hand, he deftly pinched a measure of smoking herb, lining it up down the center of a rolling paper, which he then used both hands to seal. Once again shielding against the wind, Dan cupped his hand over the small heating element in his ring, and pressed the business end of his smoke against it, causing it to flash briefly with the flame's ignition. The white smoke quickly picked up pace, dancing past the shootist like the tumbleweeds that were not there.

"I admire your persistence." Dan mused, looking away from Adia and into the bright haze of an orange noon day sky.

"Anyone half your moxie would've pulled up stakes at Malastare. So...why didn't you?"

[Adia Issoris]

"It would have been too easy, but too complicated." Adia said as she leaned back against the shuttle and crossed her arms.

A loud clunk let her know the pump had done it's job. She disconnected the hose, letting it fall to the ground. The assassin caught it before it hit the ground, and hurled it at Dan.

[General Dan]

The old shootist reacted with measured precision, leaning sideways just enough for the incoming missile to miss its mark. To demonstrate just how close she was, he raked the cherry of his cigarrette on the flying nozzle's rim, turning the hurled missile into a flaming, snaking javelin, which fell into a smoking heap behind the gunslinger and his bench.

He smirked, went to take another puff from his cigarette, only to discover that the cherry had been severed. He smiled at Adia, dropping the ruined cig at his feet as he stood.

"Well, I was going to see if we could resolve this situation with sensible talk and compromise, but I figure we wouldn't be meeting on this dust ball if that were the case, would it? All the same, I'm not totally suprised by the prospect of somebody wishing I were dead."

[Adia Issoris]

Adia had edged closer.

"I'm not here to kill you. I don't do that. But what is there to compromise on? I've been paid to do a job."

[General Dan]

"You're not?"

The old shootist raised an eyebrow. With Adia's prior transgression forgotten, he was simply intrigued.

"Then you've got my attention, mercenary."

[Adia Issoris]

"I'm being paid to break some limbs. Not enough, but I need the money." Adia drew her vibrosword, but it remained silent.

[General Dan]

Dan frowned.

"That's disappointing. You should consider weening your employer off of half-hearted violence. It's simply masturbation.

On the contrary, I very much intend to kill you. I doubt that comes as a suprise."

[Adia Issoris]

Adia shrugged. She hadn't died yet. "Not in the least."

"Look, this isn't personal. I'm just trying to put food on the table. I'm trying to quit, but I don't have a list of skills that doesn't involve violence."

[General Dan]

"Is that it? The money?"

Dan clasped his hands behind his back, squinting his eyes against the orange sun again.

"I've heard that excuse plenty of times, sure enough. I just haven't seen it hold water once."

He glanced back at her.

"You're a killer. I can see it in your eyes. It's like a stain that you can't wash off. There isn't enough soap in the galaxy to scrub it clean. And it's a stain that only the stained themselves can see."

He half smiled.

"What are you being paid? I can triple it. If it's money you want, I can make you a rich woman. But you're gonna have to lie to yourself to get it, because you aren't fooling any of us, least of all yourself.

You'll never quit being a killer, so you'd might as well burn your sheep's clothing."

[Adia Issoris]

Adia glared at him, her eyes changing in her instant of rage. She sighed.

"Born and bred to kill for the empire." She performed an Imperial salute.

"But you know what? I quit. I'm done." Adia tossed her contract to Dan. It had all of the details. She didn't care what he did with them.

"I don't want money." Adia pulled her boot blaster and tossed it into the dirt.

[General Dan]

"Nobody does. They want what money will buy. A solid gold space ship, or their daily bread, that's up to you."

The shootist watched Adia's concession, and for a few seconds stood silent. Only the wind protested.

"I suppose you'd best defend yourself. Hate to come all this way for nothing but a monologue."

He parted his long coat to the sides, folding the hemlines under the two ebony grips that curved up from his leather holster. With slow and deliberate motions, he eased his hands back to his sides.

[Adia Issoris]

"Goodbye, Dan. I hope I never see you again."

Adia turned and started to walk back to the beaten shuttle.

[General Dan]

-click-

[Adia Issoris]

Adia tensed, but didn't stop walking. If she turned back, her word was worthless. She wasn't going to add "liar" to the list.

[General Dan]

Dan tensed his finger on the trigger...and stopped. There was something about shooting a person in the back that spoiled the mood of it all. If it was going to be done, he wanted to see her eyes. It was the only way to get what was due him.

"Maybe once more, for old times sake."

His eyes narrowed at the back of her head.

[Adia Issoris]

Adia whirled.

"What?" she growled.

"I told you, I'm done. I've got credits to return and then I'm going to figure out what I'm going to do for the rest of my life."

[General Dan]

"Best get to figuring. It's almost up."

BANG

The shot was guided by the mystical clairvoyance of the Dark Side, sent unerringly toward Adia's heart.

[Adia Issoris]

Adia collapsed, falling back into the dirt. Her eyes winced shut as she fell. The point of impact sizzled. Clang - the sound of the vibrosword hitting the ground was distant as she fought the pain.

Thu-thump She bounded back to her feet, and yanked a blaster from the other boot.

Fzawpzawpzawp. The small weapon didn't pack a lot of punch, but it had an excellent rate of fire. It forced Dan's focus on staying alive while she retrieved her vibrosword and ducked behind a boulder. Her armor had done it's job, but the wound still smouldered.

[General Dan]

The muzzle blast of Adia's heater reflected a gleam in Dan's eyes. He was smiling.

Wrinkled hands went to work, quick as parched rattlesnakes. Each palmed an ornate wheel blaster, cycling power emitters with each shot. The old shootist's accuracy was simply uncanny. He fired from the hip, sniping Adia's slender blaster bolts out of thin air, causing both to burn scars into the red sand. The girl could squeeze off a torrent, but Dan was an old hand, and one with the Sith arts. He put them all down.

Fortunately for Adia, her volley kept Dan's shots occupied on things other than killing her. If she doubted for a second he couldn't give her a laser haircut with his eyes closed off a ricochet, those doubts were long gone now. This just wasn't natural.

[Adia Issoris]

She pressed her body against the rock.

Frell! While Adia wasn't able to see her bolts being shot down, she knew that was what had happend. The sound of blaster bolts impacting other blaster bolts wasn't supposed to be a three-in-a row event. Right then the assassin would have given almost anything for her destroyed personal shield.

A quick assessment of her surroundings told Adia she didn't have a lot of options. She flicked the vibrosword on, and disected several half golf-ball sized rocks from the boulder. She stuck the sword in the ground, quickly scooped up a handful of the rocks, turned, and flung them at Dan. While the rock cruised twoard Dan, Adia attacked with her blaster.

[General Dan]

Dan was ready for the stones, leveling one of his pistols at the hip for an accurate volley. As the first two rocks shattered in blaster fire, Dan took his eye off the third, breaking to engage a new shot from Adia. The distraction caused a stone to graze him across the brow, spinning the gunslinger momentarily to the side.

Wisely, he stepped out of pebble range, dabbing at a small cut with his off-hand.

"That's a clever trick, but you're gonna run out of rocks before you kill me."

Dan kept his distance. If she couldn't close against him, she wouldn't have a prayer.

[Adia Issoris]

Adia snarled. She lowered her body. Her feet scratched at the grit and sand for purchase. The boulder began to roll twoards Dan. The rock was slow at first, but it began to pick up some speed, with Adia growling behind it.

[General Dan]

Dan held his ground, returning the blasters to his holsters in a state of rest. Adia and the boulder continued to trundle his direction, until it was nearly on top of him. At the moment which he had to move, Dan did so. Taking a long side-step, he cleared the large stone's path to Adia's right, drew a shooting iron, and fired at her with his back turned to her.

[Adia Issoris]

Dan was obviously playing with her. This was as much a test as it was a fight for her survival.

Watching his body, Adia positioned the vibrosword's blade between the blaster barrel and her body. The blaster bolt deflected harmlessly into the dirt.

At this distance, the fight was disolving into Adia's reflexes and speed against Dan's Force fed precognition. Nearly 25 kilos, Adia's ancient vibrosword was unweildly for most species weaker than a Wookie. She smacked Dan across the shoulders with the flat of her blade. The cold fish was in the dirt.

[General Dan]

Dan dropped to the ground heavily, and did not move.

[Adia Issoris]

The vibrosword hummed in the air above Dan. If he were to shoot her dead, it was very likely he would be chopped in half. In Adia's other hand, a blaster pointed at his head.

"Are we done?"

[General Dan]

Silence was her answer.

[Adia Issoris]

The redhead shifted slightly, and kicked Dan's blaster from his left hand. Ebony grips tumbled a few times before coming to rest on the ground.

Silence. The slight breeze had fled them.

"Goodbye Dan. Try to enjoy life as much as you enjoy death."

Adia took a step back and turned for the Lamba shuttle.