A Point of Honour

2000 short story by Louis Turfrey and Mark Newbold

Sixteen years after Episode IV – A New Hope

   Hello Queed.

The bounty hunter turned, blaster rifle at the ready. No one there.

Damn, that sounded like Ranth. Queed scanned the area quickly - no one but himself, the sand dunes and his quarry. Relax - you're just getting jumpy, it’s the heat.

He turned back to his observations. It still bothered him, Tarr Ranths apparent lack of concern at the news of Boba Fetts admission. That the deadly Mandalorian warrior had spread the tale of Ranth’s deceit throughout the Core Worlds, therefore spoiling his reputation.    Ranth wasn’t as good as Fett - nobody was. Even Queed, who had built up a similar reputation, knew his limitations, like all the best professionals did. And yet it still caused a small pit of uneasiness within his armour. Nobody could possibly stay that cool, especially after exploding with emotion like Ranth had.

Honour must have meant a lot to Tarr Ranth.

Queed chuckled to himself, and started to relax again. The events of a week ago were still imprinted on the forefront of his mind. He wasn’t averse to causing Ranth some personal pain, but he hadn’t counted upon the reaction he had received. Ranth had been both hot and cold, explosive and quiet.

With a raised eyebrow he put it out of his mind.

   What's so funny Queed?

Queed rolled over from his slumber and looked around sharply.  Unsure of himself he switched his suit to scan in the electromagnetic spectrum. Still no sign. This was getting beyond a joke.  He checked the skies for a sign of an intruder but there was none, just the lazy circling of carrion birds high in the distance.  He leaned back onto his elbows and breathed out a slow breath.   In the dim distance he heard the sound of a turbine start up - his quarry was starting to move. Moving to his feet he mounted the swoop holstered his blaster in the specially made electro grip, and with little choice in the matter set off in pursuit.

Jan Lomona dropped the hood on the borrowed speeder and sighed with relief. The Dune Sea was not the best place to get stranded, even when you knew it like the back of your hand. Tatooine’s twin suns beat down upon the back of his head like a pair of hot coals as he jumped into the drivers seat, his companions stirring slightly as he thumbed the accelerator.

Jan turned towards Ryath Centaur, the ex-Imperial mercenary who had joined him on the trip.

   "Any sign of our mystery pursuer?"

Ryath barely moved, as he checked a read-out on the portable receiver in his hand.

   "Yes. He’s about five klicks behind us. Whoever it is, he’s playing a smart game. You’re lucky that tracker was interfering with the thrust systems."

Jan grinned as Ryath updated him. A voice came from the covered canopy at the rear of the speeder.

   "He was lucky I was here to reverse engineer the transmission." Nias Derril popped his head forward between the two front passengers.   "We've only got about fifteen klicks to go, Simdils' transponder will kick in from there onwards. Can’t this thing go any faster?" The last comment was directed towards Jan.

Lomona gritted his teeth as he replied.

   "No, this bucket of rust won't take it. Why the hell couldn't you have borrowed something with a bit more go?" Jan hated back seat drivers.

Nias Derril didn't flinch.

   "I didn't have time to steal a good one, so I bought this."

Both the front seat occupants looked around at the same time. Jan got in the first retort.

    “Are you telling me you actually paid for something?" Both he and Ryath started to laugh as they turned back towards the terrain ahead.

Nias grinned to himself as he remembered falsifying Lomona’s name and details on the acquisition form and sat back down into the relative comfort of the back seat.

Queed was finding it easy to follow his quarry. Too easy, he thought. Lomona had always been a thorn in Queeds side. When Lomona had double-crossed a Quarren mercenary, Queed had leapt upon the chance to take the bounty and exact revenge, despite the fact that the Quarren had it coming. It occurred to him that there was some irony in the situation. The last time he’d encountered Lomona in this remote location, Queed wound up the loser. And it had cost him dearly. It took months to rebuild his reputation – many wasted months. And one thing Queed hated was wasted time. On this occasion, seventeen years later he was better prepared.

As he reminisced his helmet communicator activated. Opening the channel he scanned ahead to make sure that nobody was waiting in ambush.  Satisfied, he boosted the swoop.

This would be fun.

The Sandcrawler lay motionless in the blistering sun. Its weather scarred sides showed carbon scoring from the damage it had sustained, its sides bare and exposed to the ultra violet rays of Tatoo I and II.

Simdil lay near an outcropping of rock, less than half a klick away. Staked out on the sand, arms and legs stretched tightly between four posts, he was suffering badly. The harsh sun had long since blinded him and he was starting to get drowsy from the lack of water and intense heat, but his growing anger and pain kept him awake.

A shadow passed over him - he felt the relative coolness rather that saw it. He wondered what manner of creature was going to eat him alive. He hadn't heard it approach meaning that it must have been relatively small. As he sighed it sounding like a wheeze.

   "Careful. You'll wake the lizards." A gentle deep voice came from above him. "Don't try to talk, I'll cut you free." Armoured hands swiftly released Simdil from his bonds. "Here, drink this." A thin stream of liquid forced its way between his lips and down his throat. The relief he felt was magnified enormously by the taste of the water. He strained to talk.

   "Who are you?"

He heard the noise of a med kit opening, and felt a cool patch of material press against his eyes.

   "A friend."

Jan heard the muted gasp of exasperation from Ryath as they crested the horizon. Their shadowy pursuer had closed up to within a single klick and Jan Lomona finally decided to play along.

   "Jan, the Sandcrawlers been attacked.”  Centaur squinted in the sunlight and narrowed his eyes.  “Doesn't look too bad, but there's no sign of Simdil."

Jan immediately decided to forgo his plan and gunned the engine towards overload. By the time they’d come to a halt close to the crawler, the temperature gauge had shot into the danger zone. He jumped out, Ryath running parallel along the other side, and started towards the crawler. Simdil was sitting near one of the treads, in the shade. His forehead and eyes were covered in a bacta patch.

   "Jan, it’s good to hear you." Simdil stood up and held his hand out to where he thought he would find the smuggler. "Have you got the money for those parts?"

Jan’s concern turned to relief.  Ryath walked over to them, listening intently to his com unit as he did so. Jan heard him say, “It’s your show." When he suddenly he felt as though he was totally out of the game.

Queed gunned his engine as the distant speeder shot ahead. He heard the channel clear and a familiar voice filled the speakers.

"Hello Queed. Guess what  - payback."

A massive dark shape dropped down in front of him - The Dark Star II.

He barely had time to slow the swoop as he avoided the Dark Stars' giant repulsor vanes. He circled around and pulled up in front of the ship, easing off the saddle as he did so. The lower service ramp opened and Tarr Ranth walked down, weapons holstered, a data pad in his hand. He stopped three metres in front of Queed. Ranth spoke first.

   "I assume you want to know what this is about." He held the pad up, screen out, as he recited the text he had memorised from it.

   "It reads: I Dentate Quill do hereby rescind the bounty placed upon the head of Jan Lomona, for damages incurred upon myself and my reputation, upon payment of the sum of 30,000 credits to cover damages and liability. No further claim will be made now or in the future and agreement is made that to do so would make me liable to prosecution under galactic and local systems law." He turned the pad towards himself and pretended to look at it for a moment. Ten seconds passed before he looked up again. "What else do you want to know?”

Queed paused, dumbfounded. How had Ranth persuaded the Quarren mercenary to drop the bounty on Lomona? And for what purpose?  Queed felt an irrational anger leap up from the pit of his stomach as he clenched his fists. I must not loose control he thought as he surveyed the bounty hunter in the black armour. Ranth seemed to be waiting for something, a sign from the other hunter.  Queed finally lost patience.

   "What, Ranth? Do you expect me to be angry?  Loose control like you did?" Queeds voice was guttural through his breath mask. He stood straight, unclenched his fists and relaxed.

Ranth shook his head.

   "No. I expect you to turn around and go back to your ship. Like the good little Bounty Hunter you are."  Ranth steadied himself, alert for a response from Queed, but none came. He unhooked a second pad from his belt and examined it closely. Satisfied, he threw the first pad at Queeds feet. "You'll want to keep that. It lists all the appropriate subtexts and contractual details."

Queed glared at Ranth through the visor of his mask.  A grim smile twisted at his mouth as he saw Ranth in a new light, despite the harsh glare of Tatooine’s suns. 

   “What’s your problem Ranth?”

Tarr Ranth dropped a shoulder and flicked his fingers against the butt of his rifle.

   “Right now, you are.”

Queed narrowed his eyes.

   “I didn’t screw you over, Fett did.  I was just the messenger.”

Ranth shrugged his shoulders.

   “Fett’s not here.”

Queed had to agree with that observation and bent down to pick up the pad. As he did he heard a sound like a whisper and was shocked to find himself flat on his back, unable to move, unable to breathe.   Traitorous sonofa…

Tarr Ranths voice came from above him.

   "Now lets talk about the bounty that Joquim Simdil just placed upon you."

Jan Lomona couldn’t help but laugh out loud as he looked down at Simdil, cowering against the crawler treads.

   "Ranth's got a damn nerve. How did he persuade you to do that?"

Simdil looked up nervously from where he was sitting.

   "He rescued me, said that I owed him my life and it would benefit me in the long run. I let him sort out the details whilst I drank his water. He said he'd be back before you left. Oh, he also said that there was a group of dead mercenaries located nearby. He said that you'd find their swoops first and to use them to get back to Mos Banely if he didn't get back in time." He turned towards Jan. "He reckoned you'd burn the speeders engines out once you saw the damage to the crawler."

Jan nodded towards Ryath as the two men turned back to Ranth as he moved in on Queed.  High stakes at high noon.

The Dark Star II settled to a graceful three-point landing. Tarr Ranth switched off primary systems and deactivated the defence grid in the prisoner’s section. Moments later he stood opposite Queed, who had complained about the cramped conditions of the prisoner cells since receiving the antidote to the neural toxin Ranth had attacked him with.

   "Come to gloat." It wasn’t posed as a question, merely a statement of fact.  Queed was still dressed in his armour but his weapons had been removed, his hands bound by cuffs.

Tarr Ranth said nothing as he unlocked the cage. He grabbed Queed by the crook of an arm and pulled him out of his cell. Ranth knew that without the cuffs he would have put up a fight. He activated the cargo lift and they started to descend.

   "Where's your honour now Ranth?" Queed felt disgust at the bounty hunter that stood beside him now, the professional respect that might once have existed nothing more than a fragile hollow memory. Ranth had broken the code, a code that Queed strived to live by.  Ranth said nothing and pushed him off the ramp into the full heat of the desert. Queed continued.  "There’s nothing I despise more than a man who can’t stick to his own principles." Queed was trying to goad Ranth     but it wasn’t working. They half walked, half stumbled to the damaged main door of the Sandcrawler. It opened as they approached and Joquim Simdil exited. He was wearing filter glasses to protect his damaged eyes from the sun, but he was easily recognisable. Queed tried one more time to enrage Ranth. "This is low, even for you Ranth. Do you need money so badly that you have to take it off a scrap dealer?"

Ranth simply turned his helmeted head towards him and then turned back towards his employer.

   "As per your bounty please find the prisoner, Queed, delivered intact, without permanent injury. Please ratify the bounty, as per local and galactic law, by imprinting the completed contract with your DNA scan." Tarr Ranth handed his pad over to Simdil, who placed a thumb on the DNA scanner. The pad beeped and was handed back to Ranth. Queed noticed the smile on Simdils face. Ranth turned back towards Queed and read from the pad.

   "Under local law, and after arrangement with local galactic government, you are to discharge your debt to Joquim Simdil by becoming an unpaid agent of his employ for a period of one month, after which time the sentence will be complete and all debts will be closed. During this period you will not make any attempt to escape or harm your employer, to do so would bring about the wrath of local government and the Bounty Hunters Guild. You will still remain a member of the Guild and will be governed by its practices. You will not be able to exact revenge upon Joquim Simdil, Tarr Ranth, or any of Jan Lomona’s party for the period of your remaining lifetime. To do so will result in a death warrant." Tarr Ranth turned towards Joquim.   "All that is required now is the payment of the bounty."

Joquim Simdil reached into his pocket and brought out a one-credit piece, which he handed to Ranth. Tarr Ranth handed Joquim the keys to the binders. Queed looked on in amazement.

   "One lousy credit!" He turned towards Ranth as Simdil grabbed him and led him towards the door. "You went through all this for a credit.  Why?"

Ranth looked towards him dispassionately, his face obscured by the mask.

   "A point of honour. Next time you attack an innocent party and leave him for bait, remember to destroy the security cameras as well."  He motioned towards Simdil, the scars of Tatooine’s suns all to apparent around his blinded eyes and leathered face.  Queed leaned in towards Ranth as he was moved through the doorway.

   “You’d do well to remember that yourself Ranth.  And don’t let me ever hear you utter the word honour again.  You don’t have the right.”

Ranth held Queeds stare for a brief second, a fraction in time but an eternity between the two hunters.  He turned away from Queed and started his walk back towards the Dark Star II.  Lomona, Centaur and Nias Derril were waiting for him at the foot of the ramp, a crate of parts sitting behind them. Ranth turned towards Jan as he brought the cargo lift back down from its retracted housing

   "Am I right in guessing that the parts are for the Sunrise?"

Jan nodded, a look of amusement in his eyes. Ranth glanced up at the carrion birds circling high overhead and began to smile. 

"Good.  Then we can discuss the thirty thousand credits you owe me before I agree to carry them back for you."

Queed sat in the hold of the Sandcrawler, chained tightly to a rail that ran its length. He glanced up as Simdil entered the area carrying a small vid-unit. He placed it down in front of Queed, just out of his reach.

   "What's this for? Planning to bore me into submission with your home movies?"

Simdil looked at him and smiled thinly. He placed a data cartridge into the bottom of the viewer and left, relieved.

The recording index showed that it was an old untampered recording; almost a quarter of a century old, but the quality was superb. He recognised the combatants immediately, and when it had replayed for the fiftieth time, he understood.

He’d understood the first time, but had long since passed into a deep, weary sleep.

Histories – Set only a week after Sanction: Off, this story shows Tarr Ranth’s immediate revenge act brought against Queed, who he feels bitter enmity towards.  Also featuring Jan Lomona and Ryath Centaur, A Point of Honour reveals the tortured soul that Ranth has become and is yet another step on his progress to becoming a Jedi Knight Referring also in part to Black Armour and Lost in the Dunes of Tatooine, this is a closing chapter in the battle between Ranth and Queed.

Cast of Characters

Tarr Ranth

Queed

Jan Lomona

Ryath Centaur

Nias Derril

Joquim Simdil

Dentate Quill