The Adventures of Matt Starre

Volume I:  The Luck Begins

Chapter 1:  The Near Escape

Coruscant

     In the glow of neon lights that light up the streets of downtown Coruscant in the middle of the night, a young Twi’lek female tapped her light green fingers impatiently against the controls of her speeder.  She sighed and looked at the door to the cantina that she was parked in front of.  All of a sudden, a dark green skinned Rodian who appeared to be a few years older that the girl ran out of the Cantina and jumped into the speeder. 

He looked to her and said, “Get uz out of here Jooni and do it quickly.  There are zix of them right behind me.”

Immediately she powered up the speeder and took off toward the south side of the city. 

Right behind the Rodian, a group of four Gamorreans and two Squid ran out of the cantina with blasters in hand.  They proceeded to begin shooting at the fleeing speeder. 

When their attempts at shooting the escaping duo had failed, the group of six split up into two teams each consisting of two Gamorreans and a Squid.  Each group hopped into a speeder and began their pursuit of the two.

The Twi’lek female looked at her companion and said, “So, Q’uatarn, I’m assuming that they weren’t happy to hear that the shipment of glitter stim didn’t make it to Tattoine.”

The Rodian named Q’uatarn looked at her and giving a crooked smile responded, “Well, that combined with thiz,” he pulled out about 100,000 credits from his pocket.  “After I calmed them down about the glitter ztim, I zuggezted we play a game of zabaac to which they agreed.  I zuggested that they would be able to win back from me anything they lost with the glitter ztim.”

The Twi’lek looked at him and said, “But they didn’t know you had your special card did they?”  The speeder was rocked by blaster fire that originated from the their pursuers.  “What makes you think that we’re going to get away with this?” was her next question.

Q’uatarn looked at her and said, “Becauze Jooni Zi, you are the greatezt pilot, in the known galaxy.  I’m sure you’ll get uz out of here.”  The Rodian then pulled out his blaster and positioned himself in the passenger seat to begin counter-firing.

Jooni Si, the Twi’lek, replied, “You are going to get us killed one of these days”, as she took evasive maneuvers to avoid the blaster fire which Q’uatarn began the counter-attack. 

After several minutes of exchanged firing, Q’uatarn landed a blast that took out the engines of the pursuing speeder on the left.  The hit speeder began descending rapidly until it crashed to the ground causing a loud explosion.

Q’uatarn looked at Jooni Si and said, “Well that’z one.  We’re half way home.”

“Well let me see if I can get us there” Jooni replied as she headed toward a series of small towers.  “Better buckle up.  This might get interesting.”

Jooni Si kept an eye on their pursuers and they followed her exactly as she had hoped.  With them close on her tail, Jooni made a sharp turning her speeder on its side and passing between two of the towers.  Her pursuers, however, didn’t have time to make the same precise turn.  Their lack of timing forced them to drive directly into one of the towers.

As Jooni and Q’uatarn looked over their shoulders to see their pursuers go up in a ball of fire, Q’uatarn let out a loud, “wooohooooo.”

Jooni Si then altered course to take them to their secret base.

Lok

In a medium sized room, a young human male lied on a bed motionless staring at the ceiling.  The young man was approximately nineteen years old, with brown hair and brown eyes.  He had a lean, muscular build and his skin, while being white yielded a golden tan.  He was dressed only in a loose fitting pair of shorts.  As he lied there he gently tapped his fingers on his bare torso and his eyes were fixed on the ceiling but appeared to be staring at something in the distance. 

Suddenly the door to the room opened and a young Zabrak male rushed into the room.  He appeared to be approximately seventeen years of age with an equally lean, muscular build as the human lying on the bed.  The Zabrak stood approximately six feet two inches tall and had a red facial tattoo, which was common of his species, that ran horizontally across both of his eyes and then narrowed to go from the space between his eyes down his nose and then elongated to cover his mouth and chin.  His head had no hair but a crown of tan colored horns that were approximately one inch long. 

The Zabrak squinted his eyes as he looked over to the human male lying on the bed, “Bro, did you even get up yet today?  Its past mid-day already and the guys were going to head out to the swoop races.  I thought you’d want to come along.”

No response came initially but then the young man broke the silence, “Go ahead without me Jalun, I’m not in the mood to go anywhere or do anything.”

Jalun frowned and walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge, “Matt, I’m worried about you.  You’ve been like this for the last few weeks.”

Matt sat up to sit next to the Zabrak, “I know, Jalun, it’s just that I need to get off of this dust cloud.  Nothing exciting ever happens here and besides there’s really no anything and anyone left for me on Lok.”

Jalun winced at hearing the last statement. 

Sensing the Zabrak’s pain, Matt softened his tone, “I didn’t mean it like that Jalun.”

“Well it sure sounded like you did,” he said staring at the ground.

“Jalun, it’s you who doesn’t need me.  You have a great life here with great friends and I see how you look at that girl you go to school with,” Matt answered.

Without looking up from the floor, Jalun responded, “Don’t you think a guy needs his older brother?  . . . You’re the only family I have left, especially now that Mom and Dad are gone.”  The Zabrak paused.  “Or is it because I’m not really your brother.”

Matt abruptly stood up, revealing his height which was an inch or two taller than Jalun, from the bed and looked at his brother, “Don’t you ever say that or even think that again.  I don’t care who your biological parents were, you are my brother and you always will be.  Growing up it was always you and me.  It is probably good Mom and Dad didn’t have any other kids because the two of us were enough of a hand full for them.”

Jalun lifted his head and smiled thinking of the fond memories of his childhood.  “Then why do you want to leave?”

Matt sat back down on the bed next to his brother, “Something is just calling me to leave Lok.  Jalun, there is a big beautiful galaxy out there with so much to see and do.  Look at the adventures dad spoke about that he had with the rebel alliance.  What do I have to show for my life?”

“Mattalaurious Starre is a great man and an even better brother.  That’s what you have,” the Zabrak said looking at his brother.

Matt grinned and jabbed his brother in his right deltoid, “You aren’t a half bad little brother either but I just know my destiny is somewhere out there among the stars.”

“I’m going to miss you,” Jalun said sheepishly.

“Ok, let’s not have any girly moments, bro.  This conversation has already been a bit too weepy for my liking,” Matt said with a large grin which caused Jalun to chuckle.

“You know I’ll be back to visit and besides, you only have a year of school left.  Can’t you see it now, the Starre brothers reeking havoc on the galaxy, one planet at a time!”

“Have you considered how you are going to tell Jorun about this yet?” Jalun said with a raised eyebrow.

Mattalaurious clenched his teeth momentarily, “Yeah, that’s one detail I haven’t exactly figured out yet.”

“Then I do plan on being there when you have this chat with him,” Jalun said with a grin.

Matt shoved Jalun playfully, “Alright man, you cheered me up a bit.  I’ll get dressed but let’s bag the swoop race.  How about the Starre brothers show those chump friends of yours how to play smash ball?”

Jalun raised both of his eyebrows, “Matt you know that’s not a fair game.  It’d be you and me versus Theodoras, Jettauran, and Ren.”

Matt shrugged his shoulder, “Yeah so?”

“To beat us, they’d need at least two more people on their side,” Jalun said with a grin.

“We do make a good team, bro.”  Matt said with a grin as he put on a tank top and sneakers.  “Those guys never seem to understand how we both seem to figure out what play they are going to make.”

“I guess we’re just lucky,” Jalun said as the two exited the room and headed out into the mid-day sun of Lok.

Coruscant

Jooni Si had set down the speeder on a platform that sat outside of a dilapidated apartment complex in the underbelly of Coruscant.  The light-green skinned Twi’lek pulled a blaster from her holster and held it at ready in her right hand.   

“Q’uatarn we need to get out of here.  This place is disgusting even for your standards.”

“My dear, you inzult me.  Have I not taken care of you ever since I won you away from that Hutt?”

Jooni hung her head slightly, “I’m grateful for what you have done for me, Q’uatarn.  Really I am.  When those pirates ripped me from my home world when I was child and then sold me into slavery I thought my life was over.  The things they made me do . . .”  Jooni shuddered.  “And then you came along and you won me from that Hutt and freed me.  For that I will be eternally grateful.”

“It waz my pleazure, my zweet,” the Rodian said as he too unholstered his blaster as they made their way from the landing platform to the apartment building.  “With the zpoilz of thiz job not only do we have credits for zafe pazzage to any zyztem we want but we alzo have glitter ztim to sell for a profit.”  

Jooni abruptly stopped in her tracks and turned around to stare at Q’uatarn.  Since the Rodian was short even for his species, he and Jooni were the same height allowing her to look him squarely in the eyes, “Do you mean to tell me that you still have the glitter stim and that we didn’t eject it when we were boarded?”

Q’uatarn smiled, “My dear, it waz all part of the mazter plan.  My plan to take you away from all of thiz.  To give you the life you dezerve.”

The Twi’lek winced, “Q’uatarn you know I want that more than anything but I don’t want it this way.  All I want to do is make an honest living once again.”

“And thatz what we are going to do.  We juzt needed to do thiz one lazt job to give uz enough money to ztart our new livez,” the Rodian hissed.

Jooni Si nodded her head and turned around and began heading to their apartment which doubled as their headquarters. 

Lok

“You know I can not approve of this!” a blue skinned Mon Calamari said now standing in front of the sofa he had been sitting on moments ago.  “When you’re parents died they left you and your brother under my care and protection.  I gave them my word that I would look after you boys and defend you with my own life.  And now you want to go gallivanting across the galaxy?  Do you even know what’s out there?” 

“No, Uncle Jorun and that’s the point.  There’s so much of this galaxy I haven’t seen.  I can’t be expected to sit on this desolate planet the rest of my life.  What am I to become?  Should I begin harvesting resources as a career?”

”It is an honest job,” Jorun said as he calmed slightly and retook his seat. 

“Uncle Jorun, you have taken care of Jalun and I like we were your own kids but I’m nineteen now and it’s time for me to lead my life.  You and dad saw so many things and all I know is this village on Lok.”

“A village on Lok we created to protect you and the others,” Jorun said throwing his hands up in the air.  “And you speak of your brother.  Have you even thought about him?”

“Jalun will be fine.  The kid’s grown up and he’s his own man.  And besides he has you.”

“I don’t like this.  I don’t like it one bit,” the Mon Calamari said sitting in the main room of the Tattoine style hall where he, Matt, and Jalun resided. 

The awkward silence was broken by the slam of the front door opening and then closing.  After a few moments, in walked Jalun Starre whose clothes were wet from profuse sweating.

“Where were you?” Matt said looking up at his brother trying to change the subject of the conversation he was having with Jorun.

“Well after you and I beat the living snot out of the three of those guys, they wanted a re-match.  Since you had moved on it was me and Theodoras against the other two,” Jalun answered and then looked between his brother and the blue skinned Mon Calamari.  “You two were having that talk weren’t you?”

“You knew about this?” Jorun said rising to a standing position.

“Well . . . he first told me about it this afternoon,” Jalun said sheepishly.

“So . . . who won?” Matt said turning in his seat toward Jalun.

Jalun laughed, “I did, of course.  But you know Theodoras just isn’t anywhere near the partner you are.”

“Oh come on, Theodoras isn’t that bad,” Matt said.

“You’re right he’s not.  It’s just . . .” Jalun sat down and shook his head.  “I can’t explain it.  When you and I are partners or do anything together for that matter.  It’s as if I know what move you are going to make before you even make it.  I can’t explain it but its like our brains meld.”

After a pause, Jalun laughed, “Well whatever, I have to hit the fresher.”

“Yeah you do.  Man you stink!” Matt said with a laugh as Jalun stood up and made his way to the fresher.

Matt then turned to face Jorun whose expression had changed markedly the one he held prior to Jalun’s entrance.

“What is it, Jorun?”

The Mon Calamari shook his head, “It’s nothing.”

Matt squinted, “You’re keeping something from me.  Your blue skin was about to turn red with anger at me and now you’ve gone quiet.  There’s something you aren’t saying.  And knowing you for as long as I have, you probably think you are protecting me from something.”

Jorun stood up, “We’ll talk about this later.  I have some errands to run.”

Matt stared as Jorun walked out the front door, “Now that was odd.”

Standing just outside of the front door, the Mon Calamari looked up at the sky, “Mikarus I kept them safe but I fear the time has come for them to be on their own.  With Matt leaving you know it won’t be long until Jalun follows.  More and more I share your suspicions about their true destinies.  I only pray that the galaxy has changed and they can achieve that destiny safely.”

Coruscant

Jooni Si walked out of the fresher wearing only a towel around her torso.  The towel was slightly wet causing it to adhere to her hourglass figure.  Across the room, Q’uatarn was sitting with his feet propped on the small caf table.   

The Rodian stood up at the sight of the Twi’lek, “Now thiz iz a nize treat!”

Q’uatarn walked over to Jooni and abruptly kissed her on the back of her neck. 

Jooni turned around and swiftly slapped the Rodian across the face, “What do you think you are doing?”

“Come on!  When are we going to conzumate thiz partnerzhip?” the Rodian said flabbergasted.

“How about never?” Jooni shouted.  “I’ve told you time and time again that I don’t feel that way about you.”

Dejected, Q’uatarn walked back to his seat, “You might az well pack your thingz.  We leave in the morning.”

Still in the wet towel Jooni turned her head, “What do you mean?”

“We leave for Nar Shaddaa in the morning.”

“And when did this happen?”

“One of Borgo’z minionz commed me and informed me that he iz interezted in the ztim.”

“Q’uatarn!  You wouldn’t do that to me?”

“Do what to you my dear?”

“You bastard, you know exactly what I mean.  That slime ball and his Trandoshan thug are who stole me from my family and enslaved me.”

“And who iz it who zaved you?”

Jooni hung her head, “You did Q’uatarn.”

“And don’t you forget it my dear.”

As Jooni walked into her quarters she said to herself, “How can I with you to remind me all the time.”

Lok, Starport

“So this is it?” Jalun said with a slight frown.

“You know that isn’t true,” Matt said.  “I thought Jorun would be here to see me off.”

“I don’t think he can bear to see you leave.”

Their conversation was interrupted, “I considered not showing up but I couldn’t do that.  You are like a son to me.” 

Matt smiled and walked to greet the approaching Mon Calamari.  He looked from Jorun to Jalun, “You two are my family.”

“Then why leave?” the Mon Calamari asked and then raised his arms up.  “I know I’m not going to win this argument but I just have to throw that out there.”

“Now you both know this isn’t forever.  I’m coming back.”

“Be safe,” Jalun said.  In response Matt hugged his brother.  “Knock them dead bro.”

With that Matt boarded his fighter and waved as he set off.

“Did he say where he’s going?”  Jorun asked of Jalun.

“I don’t think you want to know,” the Zabrak replied.

Jorun squinted, “Alright tell me.”

“Nar Shaddaa,” Jalun said sheepishly.

“What!”

“He said he wanted to know what all of the fuss was about.  But you know Matt will be alright.  He knows how to take care of himself.”

“But he has no idea what’s on Nar Shaddaa.”

“Hence why he wants to go there,” Jalun said with a smile.  “Let’s just hope the force is with him.”

“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem,” Jorun said grimly.