The Padawan
Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2019 5:12 pm
200 odd years before the battle of Yavin.
200 particularly odd years, for one particular padawan…
The Sluissi ‘sat’ at the cockpit controls and brought the lever down that turned the stars into streaks of light then the sky was pure white light, signaling that he had entered hyperspace. He leaned back in the chair he wasn't exactly sitting in, and sighed, his whole body relaxing.
Sluissi were reptilian aliens that were humanoid from the waist up and snakes from the waist down. There were other differences, but that was the big one. So the Sluissi didn't have legs, his lower half was coiled around the base of the chair. It was a lot like sitting, but clearly chairs weren't designed with his species in mind.
“I should have stolen a Sluissi ship,” he muttered as he lay back in the chair. Somehow he managed to look relaxed and uncomfortable at the same time.
After a moment or two of laying there he sighed again. “At least I got away from that Jedi.”
The sound of a snap-hiss filled the cockpit. The Sluissi sat upright, all attempts at relaxation gone. His tail unfurled from the bottom of the chair and he spun around. A young humanoid stood there, with legs and everything. The humanoid couldn't have been more than 12 or 13 standard years old. And he was holding a lightsaber, its hum filling the cockpit.
“A padawan. He had a padawan,” the Sluissi said, shaking his head.
“I don't know what you've done with my Master,” the Padawan said, lowering his lightsaber to point at the Sluissi's neck, “but you are under arrest.”
The Sluissi raised his hands in the universal sign of surrender. “It was a sonic trap. The Jedi is stunned, I'm not a killer.”
“You're just a killer,” the Padawan said. “Surrender.”
The Sluissi raised an eyebrow. “What do you think I have my hands up for? Exercise?”
“Funny,” the Padawan said. He pulled a set of handcuffs out of a pouch on his belt. “Put your hands together in front of you.” The Sluissi complied. The Padawan took a deep breath and held it. He tossed the handcuffs at the Sluissi, and clearly concentrating, managed to reach out with the force and telekinetically cuff the Sluissi. While he was doing that the white of hyperspace shifted to lines and then back to stars. They were no longer moving faster than light.
The Sluissi nodded. “Well done. But it hardly matters. You never should have boarded this ship.”
The Padawan laughed. “Big talk from a thief.”
The Sluissi laughed, a deeper more menacing laugh. “By boarding this ship, everyone you know is now dead.”
The Padawan looked concerned, then shook his head and grimaced. “You're lying.”
The Sluissi grinned. “No, but it is hardly as grim as you suspect. Didn't you and your Master wonder why a starship engineer would become a thief?”
“For the money. You've stolen two million credits.”
The Sluissi nodded smugly. “About that. Tell, me, what do you know about compound interest?”
The Padawan glared at him for a long moment. “I have no idea what you're talking about.”
“I wouldn't expect the Jedi Academy to cover anything as mundane as banking.” The Sluissi wrapped his tail around the base of the chair and leaned back, in a close approximation of being relaxed. “Interest is what a bank pays you to keep their money with them. A percentage of your deposit. It is rarely more than a few percentage points. Compound interest is when they take that interest payment, add it to your deposit and give you interest based on the new combined amount. Are you following me?”
“Let's turn this ship around and head back to civilization,” the Padawan said.
“That would be a bad idea. I've disabled the relativity shields. You'd do better to radio for help. We're still in the same star system we started in.”
The Padawan blinked. “What's a relatively shield?”
A huge smile came over the reptilian face of the Sluissi. It was disconcerting. “Didn't they teach you anything at the academy?”
“They taught me how to kill you with my mind!” the Padawan shot back.
The Sluissi ignored the bravado. “When you approach the speed of light time slows down. Hyperdrives avoid that with relativity shields. Our little jaunt through hyperspace didn't take us very far, but if my calculations are correct, we. Are two hundred years in the future.”
The Padawan lowered his lightsaber. “What?”
The Sluissi cackled in glee. “So not only are my crimes one hundred and eighty years past the statute of limitations, I deposited my two million credits in the bank of Kashyyyk in a certified deposit of five percent, compounded monthly. The Wookiees are quite long lived. To get the special five percent rate I had to agree to a two hundred year term.”
“Sithspit,” the Padawan swore.
“Watch your language,” the Sluissi reprimanded. “if my calculations are correct, I am now worth seventeen trillion credits.”
The Padawan retracted his lightsaber blade, filling the room with momentary silence. He lunged to the control console and started calling for help on the hypercomm.
The Sluissi was right.
But, as they were about to find out, the Sluissi was horribly wrong.
The future is a nebulous thing. It's hard to see, even for a jedi.
Near the end of the two hundred odd years they leapt through time, the galactic Republic erupted into war for the first time in living memory. As history would record, the Clone Wars ended with the attempted assassination attempt of the Republic's supreme chancellor Palpatine.
The Jedi Order was outlawed, hunted down and killed. A galactic Empire was declared, and those who dissented were punished. The Wookiees of Kashyyyk were one of the early dissenters. Their planet was conquered, their assets seized and their population enslaved.
Of course, the Sluissi and the Padawan didn't know that.
Yet.
200 particularly odd years, for one particular padawan…
The Sluissi ‘sat’ at the cockpit controls and brought the lever down that turned the stars into streaks of light then the sky was pure white light, signaling that he had entered hyperspace. He leaned back in the chair he wasn't exactly sitting in, and sighed, his whole body relaxing.
Sluissi were reptilian aliens that were humanoid from the waist up and snakes from the waist down. There were other differences, but that was the big one. So the Sluissi didn't have legs, his lower half was coiled around the base of the chair. It was a lot like sitting, but clearly chairs weren't designed with his species in mind.
“I should have stolen a Sluissi ship,” he muttered as he lay back in the chair. Somehow he managed to look relaxed and uncomfortable at the same time.
After a moment or two of laying there he sighed again. “At least I got away from that Jedi.”
The sound of a snap-hiss filled the cockpit. The Sluissi sat upright, all attempts at relaxation gone. His tail unfurled from the bottom of the chair and he spun around. A young humanoid stood there, with legs and everything. The humanoid couldn't have been more than 12 or 13 standard years old. And he was holding a lightsaber, its hum filling the cockpit.
“A padawan. He had a padawan,” the Sluissi said, shaking his head.
“I don't know what you've done with my Master,” the Padawan said, lowering his lightsaber to point at the Sluissi's neck, “but you are under arrest.”
The Sluissi raised his hands in the universal sign of surrender. “It was a sonic trap. The Jedi is stunned, I'm not a killer.”
“You're just a killer,” the Padawan said. “Surrender.”
The Sluissi raised an eyebrow. “What do you think I have my hands up for? Exercise?”
“Funny,” the Padawan said. He pulled a set of handcuffs out of a pouch on his belt. “Put your hands together in front of you.” The Sluissi complied. The Padawan took a deep breath and held it. He tossed the handcuffs at the Sluissi, and clearly concentrating, managed to reach out with the force and telekinetically cuff the Sluissi. While he was doing that the white of hyperspace shifted to lines and then back to stars. They were no longer moving faster than light.
The Sluissi nodded. “Well done. But it hardly matters. You never should have boarded this ship.”
The Padawan laughed. “Big talk from a thief.”
The Sluissi laughed, a deeper more menacing laugh. “By boarding this ship, everyone you know is now dead.”
The Padawan looked concerned, then shook his head and grimaced. “You're lying.”
The Sluissi grinned. “No, but it is hardly as grim as you suspect. Didn't you and your Master wonder why a starship engineer would become a thief?”
“For the money. You've stolen two million credits.”
The Sluissi nodded smugly. “About that. Tell, me, what do you know about compound interest?”
The Padawan glared at him for a long moment. “I have no idea what you're talking about.”
“I wouldn't expect the Jedi Academy to cover anything as mundane as banking.” The Sluissi wrapped his tail around the base of the chair and leaned back, in a close approximation of being relaxed. “Interest is what a bank pays you to keep their money with them. A percentage of your deposit. It is rarely more than a few percentage points. Compound interest is when they take that interest payment, add it to your deposit and give you interest based on the new combined amount. Are you following me?”
“Let's turn this ship around and head back to civilization,” the Padawan said.
“That would be a bad idea. I've disabled the relativity shields. You'd do better to radio for help. We're still in the same star system we started in.”
The Padawan blinked. “What's a relatively shield?”
A huge smile came over the reptilian face of the Sluissi. It was disconcerting. “Didn't they teach you anything at the academy?”
“They taught me how to kill you with my mind!” the Padawan shot back.
The Sluissi ignored the bravado. “When you approach the speed of light time slows down. Hyperdrives avoid that with relativity shields. Our little jaunt through hyperspace didn't take us very far, but if my calculations are correct, we. Are two hundred years in the future.”
The Padawan lowered his lightsaber. “What?”
The Sluissi cackled in glee. “So not only are my crimes one hundred and eighty years past the statute of limitations, I deposited my two million credits in the bank of Kashyyyk in a certified deposit of five percent, compounded monthly. The Wookiees are quite long lived. To get the special five percent rate I had to agree to a two hundred year term.”
“Sithspit,” the Padawan swore.
“Watch your language,” the Sluissi reprimanded. “if my calculations are correct, I am now worth seventeen trillion credits.”
The Padawan retracted his lightsaber blade, filling the room with momentary silence. He lunged to the control console and started calling for help on the hypercomm.
The Sluissi was right.
But, as they were about to find out, the Sluissi was horribly wrong.
The future is a nebulous thing. It's hard to see, even for a jedi.
Near the end of the two hundred odd years they leapt through time, the galactic Republic erupted into war for the first time in living memory. As history would record, the Clone Wars ended with the attempted assassination attempt of the Republic's supreme chancellor Palpatine.
The Jedi Order was outlawed, hunted down and killed. A galactic Empire was declared, and those who dissented were punished. The Wookiees of Kashyyyk were one of the early dissenters. Their planet was conquered, their assets seized and their population enslaved.
Of course, the Sluissi and the Padawan didn't know that.
Yet.