The Price

[Lance Casey]

It’s amazing how quickly life changes. One minute you have a life. Family, friends, things that tie you into this world can all be gone in an instant. I mean that literally. After Alderaan, I was left without a family, friends or home. So I traveled to Tatooine to start a new life. Over the last 5 years or so I had managed to rebuild some of my life. A job, a friend, and a woman who loved me, it seemed that perhaps my life could perhaps be whole again. Now I as I stand here, a blaster pointed at the head of the man who has most recently taken everything away once more, I wonder if I am only meant to suffer in this life.

One Day Earlier.

The desert planet of Tatooine. A X-Wing fighter drops out of hyper drive and begins its descent to a small landing pad in the space port of Mos Eisley. The X-Wing has heavy scoring on its sides indicating blaster damage and much of it looks patched up. Inside the cockpit, a red light on the console begins to flash, indicating a comm. Message. The pilot’s hand reaches to press the switch.


“Where the hell have you been? And where is Krewl? What’s going…” screams an older man.

“Wrench. I will explain everything as soon a I touch down.” Answers Casey.


The X-Wing continues its descent and finally touches on the landing zone. The hatch pops open and Lance Casey climbs out of the cockpit, covered in mud and moss. The entrance to the landing pad opens as an older man pushes his way though the doors and walks directly towards Casey.

“Where have you been and where the hell is the other ship? You know what, your fired after the stunt you pulled last year and now your buddy who you made me hire runs off with my ship that’s it. Your gone you sorry…” Wrench scream, saliva spraying out of his mouth.

“Krewl’s dead. Our ships were shot down and we crash-landed on a strange planet. I had to patch together mine just to get back here.” Replies Casey

Wrench’s expression changes from anger to shock as he hears the news. A mechanic comes from behind Wrench and makes his way to the damaged fighter to investigate the damage. Casey glances at the mechanic before looking back at Wrench.

“We were in hyper-drive on our to Naboo as planned escorting the transport. All of a sudden we dropped out right in the middle of a fight between the Empire and the rebellion. Krewl linked our nav computers and tried to get us back into hyper as I provided cover. We took damage before he was able get us out of there. As far as I can tell, his hatch shattered and he was fried as we entered the atmosphere. I used parts from his ship and flew mine back.” Casey looks down and shakes his head.

“I’m sorry Casey, I know he was your friend. I’m sorry for yelling at you too. I got a call in from the transport once it arrived on Naboo. It said you ditched them and ran off, I was shocked to see you back here again.” Wrench puts his hand on Casey’s shoulder and squeezes.

“Just do me a favor and find out why our fighters dropped out of hyper-drive.” Casey walks forward and heads off through the doors.

“Where you going to be?” Wrench shouts after him.

“Home.”

Casey walks off through the doors and out of the landing zone. He walks down several halls before he reaches his door. He reaches over to the keypad and types in his code and the door opens. Casey steps through the door and it closes behind him. He walks through his living room straight into the bathroom. Pressing a sensor on the wall. He starts his shower. Just as he starts to remove his, he hears a noise in his room. He hits the sensor on his wall again and steps out of his bathroom. As he makes his way out of the room, a brunette steps out from around the corner and stares directly at Casey.

“I didn’t think you were coming back this time.”

“Few times didn’t seem like I was.”

“I was worried.”

“Shauna, I sorr...” Casey tried to finish his sentence but Shauna rushed over to him and began to kiss him.

“You’ve been gone for weeks. I never though that I would see you again, whatever happened, whatever is going on in this galaxy, here on this planet, lets just forget about it for a few hours.”

Casey looked into Shauna’s green eyes as he had done so many times before, something about the way she looked at him just seemed to set all of his feelings at ease. Casey leaned forward and kissed her back.

Outside Casey’s apartment, a man hidden by shadows looks at Casey’s door and smiles to himself.

“Phase 1 complete.”


Too be continued.

[Lance Casey]

Later that day at Wrench’s landing pad, the old man is scrolling down a computer screen, looking through the information that is being sent from the computers internal computer. His eye’s burning, he squints and rubs them.

“Syrn, try patching into the hyper drive and see if we can pin point the problem there.”

“Sure thing boss.” Say’s Syrn.

The feed from the hyper drive comes on screen. The code looks normal to Wrench. He turns away from the screen and closes his eyes once more.

“This doesn’t make any sense. We’ve checked the code and coordinates and nothing points to why it would drop out of hyper space.”

“I’m leaning towards pilot error as the cause myself.” Replies Syrn.

Wrench walks over to the fighter and runs his hand over it. Casey and Krewl were good pilots and aside from what happened last year, they had never let him down before.

“I want to take the whole hyper drive apart and find out what happened.”

Syrn “Sir, we have to get this fighter operational again so that we can get back to work.”

Wrench “There are no other jobs, people are too afraid to hire us. We have to find out what caused this to happen.”

Syrn “Alright, you’re the boss.”

Inside Casey’s apartment.

Casey lies in bed with Shauna, asleep. He tosses and turns, sweat beading down his forehead. In his mind, Casey can hear the screams of men, women and children as they cry out for help before the voices are silenced by a huge explosion. Casey jolts out sleep and sits right up in bed, panting. He looks down at Shauna then up at the ceiling. Casey moves his legs over to the side of the bed and puts his feet down on the floor. Casey pushes himself off the bed and walks over to his frig and gets out a drink from a green bottle. He pours the liquid into a small glass, picks it up and drinks it.

Shauna “ You had that dream again didn’t you/”

Casey looks over at the bed and looks over at her.

Casey “yeah”

Shauna looks down at the sheets then back up at Casey. She reaches down to the floor and grabs her pants from off the floor, she reaches into a pocket and pulls out what looks to be spice and begins to use it. Casey looks over at her an turns his head away.

Casey “I’ve asked you not to do that in front of me.”

Shauna “Yeah, well I said I would stop doing this if you stopped drinking, but since it doesn’t look like that will ever happen, lets just not mention our particular vices to each other and let it be.”

Casey smiles. Her words, misguided as they might be, always seemed to set things right for him. Casey walks over to her and places his hand on her cheek and rubs it with his thumb. She’s look up at him and stares with her green eyes.

Casey “The dreams are getting worse. They were bad all year, but ever since I crash-landed on Dagobah they seem…”

Shauna “They seem what?”

Casey looks at her as a look of sadness crosses his face.

Casey “More intense, realer somehow, like I was actually on that transport. Now with Krewl gone, it just feels like death and sadness is all that I will ever know in this life.”

Shauna pulls Casey down by his arm until he is sitting on the bed next to her. Now at eye level she moves towards him and wraps her arms around him.

Shauna “People die kiddo, there’s no stopping it. All we can do is not dwell on it and try and live our lives the best we can with the knowledge that one day it can be gone in an instant.”

Casey “And what if I can’t.”

Shauna “I don’t deal with what ifs. Just know that I am not going anywhere and neither are you for a long time.”

Casey smiles at her and strengthens the embrace, but in the back of his mind he can’t helps but think that it is only a matter of time before he loses her as well.




Back at Wrench’s landing pad, parts for the hyper drive of Casey’s ship lay everywhere as Wrench and Sryn shift through it all, looking for anything that might have caused the ships to drop out of hyper drive.

Sryn “We’ve been looking over these parts for hours sir and we can’t find anything.”

Wrench “Your right. Let’s get this thing put back together and start repairing the fighter.”

Sryn “I’m on it.”

Wrench begins to walk away from the pile when something catches his eye inside that ship where the hyper drive normally is. Wrench peers inside and sees what appears to be some sort of coordinate scrambler with a comm. antenna.

Wrench “I think I might have found the culprit.”

Sryn looks into the ship and sees it as well, a look of hesitation comes over him.

Wrench “I thought you said you investigated the inside and found nothing?”

Syrn “Must have been looking to hard and passed right over it.”

Wrench reaches into the compartment and removes the device, turning it in his hands to examine it. Wrench and Sryn walk over to the computer terminal and plug it in. He hits a few keys and begins to run a diagnostic on the device.

Wrench “Just as I though. Preset coordinates and a comm. just in case it has to be typed in manually. But what good would it be to type in coordinates at a distance if they were already programmed?”

Sryn “I don’t think it was used to receive coordinates, but to transmit the location of the vessel.”

Wrench looks up from the screen in amazement “How did you figure out all that?”

From behind him, a human dressed in all black swings a huge wrench into the back of his head, knocking him out onto the computer terminal.

Man in Black, a deep, threatening voice “Because that’s what I paid him to do.”

Wrench falls to the ground, blood flowing from the back of his head.

Man “Pick him up and put him into the cockpit of the fighter. Put this in there as well.”

The man hands Sryn a bag.

Sryn “What’s in here?”

Man “Thermal detonators with remote trigger.”

Sryn picks up Wrench and carries him over to the fight and places him in the cockpit. He throws the bag in as well. He reaches up, grabs the hatch and pulls it shut. The man in black tosses him a comm. link.

Sryn “What’s this for?”

Man “because of your stupidity, I’ve had to push my plans forward. Call Casey and inform him that you have found what caused him to drop out of hyper drive and get down here as fast a s possible.”

Sryn, talking into the comm. “Casey, its Sryn. We found it; get down here as fast a possible.

After few seconds, a voice chimes in from the other side.

Casey “I’ll be right down.”

Sryn lowers the comm. He looks over at the man and tosses back the device to him.

Sryn “It’s done, now give me my credits and you’ll never see me again.

The man stares right at Sryn, he raises his hand and points over to a few storage containers.

Man “I had it brought in as soon as I got the signal last night.

Sryn “Good.”

Sryn begins walk over to the storage container. With Sryn’s attention drawn away, the man in black reaches into his jacket and removes a blaster. He points it at the back of Syrn and fires. A red bolt shoots out of the weapon and tears a hole straight through Sryn, killing him instantly. The man in black replaces the blaster and pulls out his remote detonator as he begins to walk out of the landing pad.

Man “Huh, hit Wrench with a wrench, kind of poetic.”

The man steps through the door and looks back into the hangar. His lips curl into a smile.

Man “Phase 2 complete.”

The man leaves the hangar completely and makes his way down the halls of the spaceport. No more than two minutes after he leaves, Casey is running through the halls of the spaceport making his way through pilots and smugglers to Wrench’s pad. He gets to the doors when out a of no where a tingling sensation course through his body. Casey backs away from the door, a feeling of danger passing over him.

Casey “What the hell?”

The feeling passes and Casey stares at the door. Deciding that it meant nothing Casey presses on through the doors. As he passes through, he sees Sryn lying dead on the floor, lying in a pool of his own blood. He looks up from the body at the fighter, Wrench is in the cockpit, beginning to stir. Just as Casey begins to run over to his boss, the fighter blows, the force of the explosion sending Casey back trough the door. Casey is thrown sever feet backwards and hits the wall behind himself hard. Intense heat coming from the hangar, fierce engulphing the inside of the hangar, the last things Casey hears before he passes out is the screaming and shouting of pilots and personnel alike, running away from the carnage.

On the other side of the space port the man in black drops a remote and kicks it over. He walks up to a door and presses the keypad, a bell ringing on the inside of the apartment. The footsteps can be heard approaching the door.


Man “Now, let the endgame begin.”

The door opens and Shauna appears.

Shauna “Can I help you?”

Man “Yes, my name is Ver Limel. I work for the security force here at Mos Eisely.”

Shauna “Why are you here?”

Ver “The hangar in which your boyfriend works was just destroyed and we are hopping to get a statement from you as to his where a bout’s at the time.”

Shauna “But he just went down there. Is he..?’

Ver “He’s fine, he is being questioned now by my associates. I just need you to tell me where exactly he was at the time. May I come in?”

Shauna “Yes by all means come in.”

Shauna steps to the side and lets Ver in.

Ver “Thanks, this shouldn’t take too long.”


Too be continued.

[Lance Casey]

Ver walks around the apartment, looking at the surroundings and décor. A set of vibro swords in a display case catches his eye. He reaches his hand out to stroke the handle of one as Shauna enters the living room with two cups of coffee. She looks over at Ver touching the sword.

Shauna: Please don’t touch anything.

Ver looks back at her.

Ver: I was just admiring the craftsmen ship on these blades. They are really quite stunning. The design suggests that they are Alderaanian. Where did your boyfriend procure them?

Shauna: He didn’t buy them. They have been in his family for generations. It’s one of the only things he kept that would remind him of his home.

Ver: Alderaan was destroyed though, how is he still in possession of them?

Shauna: Casey was on his family’s personal transport at the time of the destruction, this was a decoration in his quarters.

Ver: Where are the rest of his possessions?

Shauna: Sold, he needed the money to survive. He kept this as a bridge to his past.

Ver nodded. It was an impressive decoration. He turned away from the swords and looked at Shauna.

Ver: Lost so much only to build a new life for him. Know it seems to be slipping away all over again. Of course, he does deserve it after all.

Shauna: Excuse me? Are you going to ask your questions or not, because you are starting to make me uncomfortable.

Ver: I’m sorry, but that whole story of being a security guard was just a lie to get in here. I have actually been screwing with Casey’s life for revenge.

Ver smiles and swings his fist at Shauna and connects with the side of her head, knocking her down to the ground. Ver walks over to the swords and rips one off the wall. He points the blade down and points it at Shauna. The young woman’s eyes begin to water, fear written all over her face. The last thing that she sees is Ver raising the sword and bringing it down.

15 minutes earlier.

Casey turns over on his side and begins to regain consciousness. He can still feel the heat all around him, but the fire itself has begun to die out, leaving behind twisted metal and scorched concrete. Casey pushes himself off the ground and gets to his feet. He looks around the spaceport has the medics have arrived to take care of the wounded, one begins to make its way towards Casey, but he waves him off.

Casey: Go help the others.

Casey walks forward a bit, just staying out of Wrench’s landing zone. He watches the inside burns and sinks to his knees. He’s lost everything once again, his best friend, his job, his…. Casey looks raises his head as a look of shock passes over him. Casey gets up from his knees and runs for his apartment, hoping that what he thinks is completely wrong. He runs down the corridors, pushing over people who get in his way. Casey finally, reaches his door to find it wide open, the lights off inside. Casey steps through the door cautiously, searching the apartment with his eyes. Casey makes his way to the living room, furniture over turned. As Casey steps forward, his foot hits an object on the floor, Casey looks down to find Shauna’s head in a poll of her own blood. Casey steps backwards and begins to grab the already turned over furniture and throw it around the apartment. Casey stops throwing the furniture and begins to back up, crying. Casey doesn’t hear the foot steps approach from the kitchen as Ver makes his way into the living room vibro sword still in his hand.

Ver: You know, if I thought you would break down this easily, I would have just killed you after you came back.

Casey, eyes red, looks up at Ver, tears running down his face.

Casey: Who are you?

Ver: Angel of Death? Judge, Jury, Executioner? A guy who sets things right.

Casey: I’m in no mood for riddles. Who are you?

Ver turns his head to the side and smiles.

Ver: You don’t remember me? Ver Limel. One year ago brought a woman, three kids to a transport you were protecting.

Casey lowers his head, the memory too clear.

Casey: The Guardian.

Ver: That’s right. Only you didn’t do a very good protecting that transport did you. As I recall, pirates destroyed it. Now, your job is, or was anyway, to protect transports, I have to ask why this one was any different?

Casey: The pirates ambushed us. My wingman was in danger so I went to help him out. There were more pirates then we could handle and the transport was destroyed.

Ver: But isn’t your first responsibility to the transport?

Casey: I thought I could get back in time.

Ver: Because of your incompetence, my family was killed. How do you think my wife and three little girls felt as the flesh melted from their bones?

Casey: I know how they felt because I felt it when they died.

Ver looks at Casey, the smile gone from his face. Anger is all he can express.

Ver: You know, this whole production I put on, getting that mechanic Sryn to plant the device that would drop you out of hyperspace, the explosives I planted on the hatch of Krwl’s Wing the blow the cabin pressure, Wrench’s explosive exit, as well as sweet Shauna’s new hair cut, all to bring you to your lowest point right before I kill you.

Casey: You did all of this.

Casey looks up, unable to hide the rage from Ver, looks up his head shaking. Casey gets to his feet, the adrenaline the only thing driving him. Casey reaches for the other sword on the wall and tears it down.

Casey, screaming: You did all this because of some stupid mistake I made, you took everything from me just so you could feel better. I have felt remorse every day since that transport blew; I have let it eat me from the inside. You thought you could take everything from me, leave me broken for an easy kill. You succeeded in taking everything from. Almost everything.

Casey charges at Ver and slahes his sword at Ver’s face. Ver raises his blade to block the shot, but the force of Casey’s blow sends him backwards.

Casey: My rage. I’ve kept it bottled up inside ever since my home was destroyed. No matter what happiness I found here, it could never leave. You think you’ve known suffering in your life, you are wrong.

Casey stabs at Ver, who swings his blade to deflect it. Ver rolls over to his side, and pushes off the ground so that he is standing once more. Ver and Casey circle each other, blades facing the other. The both strike at the same time, an intense fight soon follws, each man able to deflect the others attacks. The fight goes on until Casey is able to knock the sword out of Ver’s hand. Ver rolls backwards and reaches into his coat to pull out his blaster. As he raises the blaster, Casey throws the sword as if it were a spear, stabbing it right through Ver’s shoulder and pinning him to the wall. Ver drops the blaster and grabs his shoulder in pain. Casey, no emotion on his face, walks over and picks the blaster up off the ground. He proceeds to grab the sword by the handle and rip it out of the wall. Ver leans towards the ground, shaking in pain. Casey places the blade of the sword under Vers chin and uses it to raises Ver’s head up. Ver stares right at Casey, fear can clearly bee seen in his eye’s.

Now.

It’s amazing how quickly life changes. One minute you have a life. Family, friends, things that tie you into this world can all be gone in an instant. I mean that literally. After Alderaan, I was left without a family, friends or home. So I traveled to Tatooine to start a new life. Over the last 5 years or so I had managed to rebuild some of my life. A job, a friend, and a woman who loved me, it seemed that perhaps my life could perhaps be whole again. Now I as I stand here, a blaster pointed at the head of the man who has most recently taken everything away once more, I wonder if I am only meant to suffer in this life.

Ver: You don’t have it in you to use that blaster.

Casey: I can tell by the look in yours that you don’t truly believe that.

Casey stares down at the man. All of the feelings running through him, hate, anger, rage, they all shout out to him to do it. Casey continues to looks down at Ver, but lowers the blaster. Casey steps backwards and walks over to the decapitated body of Shauna and begins to bend over. Suddenly, Ver reaches back in his coat. Casey quickly raises the blaster and fires 5 shots into Ver’s chest. Ver looks down at his chest, blood pouring out of his wounds. He looks back up at Casey, blood beginning to run out of his mouth, a smile curling his lips.

Ver: See you in hell.

Ver’s eye’s go wide as he coughs up blood and falls forward dead. Casey lowers the blaster and throws it to the ground. He walks into his bedroom and strips the bed bare, removing the sheets. Taking the sheets with him, he walks over to Shauna’s body and begins to wrap it up.

Three hours later.

Security guards make their way into the apartment, blasters pointed. The guards search through the apartment. All they find is the body of Ver and a stain over dried blood.

SG 1: Were too late, whatever happened her, the people who did it are long gone.

SG 2: Dealing with the fire was our first priority.

The security guards walk over to the body of Ver and pick it up under the shoulders. AS they lift him into the air, a locket drops out of the hand that was reaching inside his coat when Casey shot him. Inside the locket is a picture of his wife and children.

Outside Mos Eisley.

Casey walks towards a pile of wood, carrying the body of Shauna wrapped in sheets. He places the body on the wood. Casey back’s up and looks at the funeral pyre.

Casey: I’ll miss you.

Casey removes a lighter from his coat, lights it and throws it into the pyre. Casey watches as smoke begins to rise and then, flames begin to form. Once he sees the body lit, Casey bends down and picks up a bag. He places the back over his back, takes one last look at the pyre, and begins to walk back to the spaceport.

Casey walks back to the landing pads to the dock of a refugee ship. When he reaches the loading ramp, he is greeted by a one of the crew. The crew man shows Casey onto the transport and makes his way to a seat next to a window. Casey, for the last time, looks down on the place that has been his home for 7 years. The ship begins to shift as it takes off. Casey, still staring out the window, does not stop until Tatooine is gone and all he can see are the star lines.