He Rode a Pale Horse (open to a Jedi)

[General Dan]

The Jundland Wastes were not to be travelled lightly.

Twin Tattooine Suns baked the sand hard and red, beating what little that lived here into submission. The air burned, and apparitions danced on the horizon, where the endless dune sea met with a cloudless blue sky.

Between the Sea of Carkoon and the sandstone canyon heart of the wastes, a shantytown existed on a trail that was nearly eroded by sandstorm. It's name was Halfway to Nowhere, obviously born out of the morbid humor of its founders, all long dead.

Nobody lived in Halfway. They were all just passin on through, to some extent. Traders made pit stops here, to fleece the lost and the desperate out of their money for the bare essentials of food and water. Sometimes more than the basics. A drink. A whore. Heaven forbid, a night's stay.

But absolutely nobody lived in Halfway. The only real residents were the folks who died there. And somebody would become a permanent resident today.

A lone rider approached Halfway, the sun searing at his back, casting his shadow before him. His steed was metal, a quadripedal droid that resembled a beast of burden. It's limbs moved with pneumatic servomechanisms, and its eyes glowed like red embers.

He'd been tracking his quarry out of Mos Espa for half a day. The rut in the sand the speeder carved had zigged and zagged, but it wasn't fooling anybody. If you were out this far in the desert, you were either going to Halfway, or you were trying to kill yourself. He'd taken the craggy overpass in the wastes, and as he reached the crest, the speeder's tell-tale trail could be seen meeting the shantytown trail.

There were lights on in the saloon. The rider dismounted his steel beast, and stepped through the doors.

[Shade Magus]

A young man with spiked blonde hair sat at the bar drinking from a glass of water. He had been in Halfway for nearly a day. His father's homestead was about twenty kilometers west of here. Well not his father's he supposed. Now a woman lived there.

He picked up his glass and took a sip. He was waiting for the sun to go down before he started back to Mos Espa to catch a shuttle back to Coruscant. He watched the man come in, but paid little attention to him. All sorts came in here, so what would make him special? The only thing he saw that was special was the man's transport. It had to have been custom built, which implied some sort of wealth. So what was he doing out here?

Ehh....to each there own, he thought as he shifted his body. As he did his lightsaber dropped from his waist and on the floor. Quickly he snatched it up and hid it back under his cloak. He didn't want to be idnetified as a Jedi around here. Most people weren't partial to the laws and he wasn't about to be drawing attention to himself.

[General Dan]

"I'll take one of them hand-rolled cigarillos."

The rider, an aging man with long grey hair pointed behind the bartender. While the man went to work, the rider's eyes panned around the room. The disheveled faces mostly paid him no mind, save for two. A blonde haired man at the bar, and a swarthy-skinned man at a corner table, nursing a whiskey.

The rider smiled and nodded to each man, as the bartender handed the cigarillo over, and lit it.

"I'm looking for a speeder. Should've come round these parts an hour or so ago."

"Fraid you're half an hour behind." The bartender replied. "One pulled up stakes and headed roundabouts to Carkoon."

The rider paid for the cigarillo, and tipped for the information.

"Have a gander at the driver?"

The barkeep shook his head as he cleaned a glass. "I make it a point not to remember the faces round here, Mister. They don't much come back a second time."

"Of course."

The rider's eyes drifted back to the patrons as he smoked.

[Shade Magus]

Shade looked back to the man who had just came in. He was asking questions about someone who had already left, and only two types of people asked that. Bounty hunters and law enforcement authorities, but this man didn't act as either. There was something different about him, but he couldn't place his finger on it. He then made up his mind that he would find out somehow.

He stood up and walked over to the man and sat his glass down and stood an arm length away. "Prehaps I could help you."

[General Dan]

"Did you see the driver?"

Dan turned to Shade, reclining against the bar as he smoked.

[Shade Magus]

"Caught a glimpse, but it was short and mostly hidden. About this height though," he said bringing a hand up to his eyes. "Just an inch or two shorter than me. Looked like they were in a hurry though."

[General Dan]

Dan remained silent for a moment, and then replied simply. "Mmm."

He shifted the cigarillo from one corner of his mouth to the other, and his eyes drifted to the whiskey-drinking man.

"And you?"

The man said nothing. He took another drink. He perspired. He played with a credit chit on the table. Anything he could do to avoid Dan's eyes.

The old rider's eyes simply remained fixed on him. He'd found his man.

"Bartender, I'd like to pay for that fellow's drink."

"But he's already..."

"Then I reckon you'd better return his money to him."

The chill in Dan's words could've laid frost on the walls.

"Yessir. As you say, sir."

The 'keep fumbled with a chit, and made his way to the drinker's table, returning his money.

"Where's the wife and kids, Ken?"

"You go to hell!" The drinker finally lost his cool, throwing his glass to the floor with a crash.

Dan smiled, ashed his cigarillo, and said nothing. He peeled his long duster aside, resting the right seam behind the gleaming ebony and silver grip of a blaster, resting in a black belt holster.

"Eventually, Ken. I assure you of that."

[Shade Magus]

Now it was time for Shade to step in.

"Whoa there buddy. I think you need to think twice before firing that thing in here. I don't know what this guy did to you, but I doubt it could have been that bad considering the way you are carrying yourself."

[General Dan]

"Who's firing anything?"

Dan glanced sidelong to Shade, who decided to muscle his way into the conversation.

[Shade Magus]

"Then what's with the show?" He asked nodding to the blaster.

[General Dan]

"Not your business."

Dan returned his attention to Ken.

"I assume you have the map?"

Ken hesitated, and after a moment, shook his head.

"Ahhh...."

The gunslinger crossed his arms, looking down at Ken.

"Well, looks like I'm up the creek without a paddle."

He stood from his barstool, drawing his duster closed.

"Guess I'd better be movin' on."

Dan walked toward the door, and paused, turning back to the bartender, and pointing off in the distance.

"They went that way, yes?"

[Shade Magus]

Shade relaxed as he saw the man cover up the blaster once more. He hadn't wanted to get involved, but it almost seemed like he had no choice. "Thank you."

The man walked over to the door and pointed in a direction asking it his quarry had gone that way. Before the bartender could answer Shade did. He had watched the rider after the bartender had quit and had a more accurate answer. "General direction yes, but it was slightly more to the north. Thought whether or not he continued on that path I don't know. Probably if they wanted to survive."

[General Dan]

Dan eyed Shade up and down. He knew the type. Obstinate and stubborn, and with no poker face. Try as he might, he couldn't blow smoke at the gunslinger.

"I'll keep that in mind." He lied. "Thanks."

Besides, he'd followed the tracks in towards Halfway. He was willing to gamble on following them out as well.

He stepped out into the glaring suns, and mounted his droid steed, which obediently righted itself to his whim. They took off, at an unnaturally fast gait.

"You! You've got to help me! He'll kill them! He'll kill them all!"

Ken rose shakily from his seat, staggering over to Shade and grasping desperately at the collar of his robe.

[Shade Magus]

Shade was about to go back to his seat when the man grabbed at him.

"Wha....whoa! Calm down. Who is going to kill who here?"

[General Dan]

"Dan!"

Ken gestured wildly at the door of the saloon from whence the gunslinger had exited.

"I...stole some money. From a spaceport foreman at Mos Espa. He must've known people, y'know everybody's connected in a place like this. I ain't an unreasonable man. My wife and kids, we ain't got much, and that much money ain't gonna pinch a rich fellow none. But that don't matter. I seen what he did. He's a killer, that one. Through and through!"

[Shade Magus]

Shade watched the man on the horse as he rode away. The Jedi turned his head quickly back to the man in front of him. He had had an uneasy feeling about the man, but then again it wasn't that uncommon around here so he had paid no attention to him.

"Who is he going to kill?"

[General Dan]

"The whole galaxy, starting with my wife and kids, if he ain't done in himself."

Ken's eyes were wild, and they glanced down to the Jedi's belt.

"Mister, don't go sandbaggin on me. I saw what that was that you dropped. Don't make a man beg."

[Shade Magus]

Shade sighed and slowly nodded. "Fine, but first, stop babbling. If you want my help then fine, but I need to know where that man is going and where your family is."

He turned and walked towards the door. "And you can tell me on the way. I have a small speeder outside. It'll be cramped, but it should be able to hold us both."