Revan’s Journal: Taris: Cantina Adventures
“Even if the name does sound stupid, we still need the credits, so why not?â€
Indeed, why not? The former was what Carth said, and the latter was the line that was running through my head as I agreed to join the Cantina Arena of Taris. It might attract a little attention towards us if I accelerated too high in the Arena, but the Sith wouldn’t think that a Republic refugee would try to cast the lime light on himself. Plus it might even attract the attention of a few Sith lapdogs that wandered towards the cantina during their days off. If we could get them drunk, they might just give us their uniforms willingly. But in order to do that, we needed the credits to buy them their drinks.
Now, christened as the “The Mysterious Strangerâ€, I’m facing off against my third opponent in one day: Ice, another arena fighter. It would have been easier if the fight was fought with blasters (the arena had a disruptor field that stopped weapons from killing their opponents), but there was no pace to take cover in the arena, so I had to fight using a vibro sword.
I have to admit, I’m not bad with a bladed weapon (for some reason, I’m actually a better swordsman than a marksman), I just prefer a blaster because it makes the fight easier, and it makes it shorter.
As I desperately gasp in the much needed air, I duck as one end of the double bladed vibro staff that Ice using swings through the air; then I parried a second blow as she twist her staff in an attempt to slice me from hip to shoulder.
I twirled to my right and swung my arms with the strength I could muster, aiming for her neck in a desperate attempt end the fight as soon as possible. Ice neatly blocked the blow and, although she was as tired as I was, started a series of counter attacks that pushed me back.
Then something happened that even Ice couldn’t have predicted… I tripped…
As I fell backwards, I prepared to shield myself from the blows that Ice might deliver, fortunately for me, she too tripped on my feet and we both fell out of balance. I quickly rolled away to my left and jumped back to my feet. All of a sudden, I was filled with a sense of vigour that had deserted me during the fight. Knowing the fact that my opponent was tough, but not invincible gave me the strength to deliver blow after blow without hesitation. I started to dance around her defences, looking for cracks in her shield as she slowly grew weaker, and weaker.
Then, the opportunity to strike came, as her strength diminished, so did her ability to swing her staff in the circular motions that had kept me at bay. I feint a strike towards her head, as she lifted to counter the blow that would never come, I ducked under her defences and struck her chin with the butt of my sword hilt.
Before she could regain her focus, I quickly twisted to my right to deliver another blow to her right rib cage with the flat of my blade, and then I twirled my sword and cut her left thigh. It wasn’t a fatal strike, but it was enough to bring her to her knees.
The fight finally ended with the tip of my vibro sword resting under her chin.
I had finally defeated Ice. The only person left for me to defeat was the Rodian named Twitch. Known for his trigger happy fingers, Twitch was named Twitch for obvious reason. But before anything else, I needed to get some rest.
I talked to Carth and he agreed that fighting in three consecutive matches had exhausted me and continuing in my current state would not help anyone.
As we were about to head back to the camp, I noticed a woman sitting alone at the back of the room. She was staring at us with the eyes of a person who didn’t let any detail escape her. She obviously had the eyes of a soldier, a Sith lapdog.
I knew that if things ended badly, Carth and I would definitely get killed then and there, but I had to try, this was the only chance I was going to get.
“Carth, hang on for a second, I think we just found what we’re looking for.†I told him.
“You noticed as well huh? I guess there’s no helping it. This is, after all, what we wanted to happen.†He told me.
I was surprised that he noticed. I didn’t think he would, even though Carth was a soldier, he didn’t fit the looks of a person who paid attention to his surroundings when he was focused on a certain objective. It looks like I was wrong about him, or at least in this aspect.
We walked towards the woman and without hesitation; we sat down at her table. She merely looked at us with a look of bewilderment, as if she couldn’t imagine someone was actually brave enough to sit at her table. We sat together for a while in silence, not wanting to be the first to break the ice, finally she said:
“I watched your fight; you seem to be able to hold your own. Tell me, do you have a different name either than ‘The Mysterious Stranger’?†She asked me.
“I do.†I answered. “But if I told you then there wouldn’t be any point in calling me ‘Mysterious Stanger’ now is there?†I asked her.
“No, I guess there isn’t.†She answered after a bit of contemplation.
“But as we’ve intruded into your time, I’m Xorn and this is my companion, Carn. Would you grant us the pleasure of buying you a drink?†I asked her, dropping two completely fake names in the process.
“To what end might I ask? Do you think I’m a fool to believe that you come here with good intentions? I bet the names you just gave me are fake aren’t they?†She asked with a hint of anger on the edge of her sentence.
“No matter.†She continued. “Just because you gave me your name doesn’t mean that I’ll give you mine, but I will take up your offer on another drink; anything to forget the ungrateful lot that this back water planet has.â€
It was obvious that she was here to vent out her frustration, so I decided to egg her on, thankfully Carth was thinking the same thing and soon, she was inviting us to a party that her fellow sith troopers would be attending. She gave us the address of the party and after a few more drinks; we left to head back to our own room to get some rest…
