A cesspool of the downtrodden, the Refugee Sector on Nar Shaddaa is home to both the misfortunate and criminals alike. Offering their protection for credits, the criminal organizations that control the sector tax the populace outrageous sums. Unable to provide these fees, refugees are forced to work under hazardous conditions producing glitterstim and adrenals for their overseers. Some of these refugees are addicted to the substances themselves—for which the cartels increase the price of their tithes in exchange for a share of the product.

Crammed with stalls and makeshift hovels, several of the sector’s inhabitants find refuge on the streets and in the alleyways. Those who managed to avoid the dangers of drug production can be found selling their limited and often defective goods to others. Behind these stalls, a selective stock of black market wares is hidden, reserved for mercenaries and thugs.

Littered with garbage, it is obvious that no maintenance droids have been programmed to maintain the sector. The surrounding towers have fallen into decay, bits of debris falling every so often into the middle of the street. The duracrete streets are covered in a film of filth and chemicals from the abandoned warehouses, making movement cumbersome when traveling through the most inhabited areas.

Patrols armed with blasters and vibroswords come through these areas regularly, making a show of force to advertise the merits of their ‘protection’ while extorting the occasional shopkeeper. Screams and shouts are a common enough sound, which is never in the refugees’ best interests to interfere in.

“ROOOOOAAAAARRRRR,” yelled the Wookiee as they got up from the barber’s chair.

The droid they were with spoke up for his owner’s seeming anger, “They say: you took a bit too much off the top.”

The Dathomir Witch who had been cutting the hair was confused, “They’re a Wookiee. They have infinite hair.”

Dekonikor crouched down to look in the mirror, “Ruffruffruff.”

His head top was completely bald revealing his pink skin!

Dekonikor sent a small shock from his hand to the scissors, forcing the Dathomirian to drop the metallic blades from her hands.

“What the hell!” she shouted.

Dekoninkor started walking into the Witch as if to make her fight him. “I would urge you to run…” started the droid, but he was cut off by the light thump of boots walking into the alley way barber shop. In the frame of the cloth door shreds stood a seemingly tiny Mandalorian, reaching about the height of one of Dekonikor’s plethora of hidden areolas. The Battlelord turned around to see the person who had blocked the light from the outside.

The Augur spoke through the masked communicator, “Picking on refugees…in the Refugee Sector of all places?”

“ROOOOAAAARRRR,” responded Dekonikor with an intense multitude of verbiage and extremely intricate noun usage.

Appius looked towards the droid for a translation. The droid looked towards the Witch who was now far out the back door. Turning his robotic head back, he mumbled, “Uhhh, sometimes they say things I can’t understand. I would assume it meant: look at my damn head. It’s severely pink. It looks like the inside of an eeopee. I deserve penance. Or something like that.”

Appius chuckled, “Shall we take this outside? I wouldn’t want to destroy the space of the good people of this…” but Dekonikor didn’t give him a chance. The Wookiee immediately charged the Supreme Chancellor, holding their hand up while rushing him. Appius stepped a few paces back into the open and held out his hand to let a stream of intense static flow through him. But nothing!

Temporarily confused, he realized what the Wookiee was doing and started to make a run for it down the hall of the small building they were in. He needed to get outside so he could put some distance between them. Unfortunately, it was too late. Dek had closed quickly, knocking out a chunk of the door on the way out and latched with his claws onto the high ground pack.

Appius spun around and went into a fighting position common among his people. Dekonikor’s eyes were close to bulging.

Jurir A’den, thought the Mandalorian. His thoughts quickly turned to loud words of self-motivation, “Oya! Gar cuyir trattok’oik!”

Dekonikor threw a fast punch that they followed through with their whole body. Appius ducked and went opposite to the swipe. Appius immediately went in for a punch to the shoulder, striking hard enough to feel the impact reverberate through the Sith’s bones. But Dekonikor wasn’t fazed.

Appius suddenly felt the warm embrace of the Wookiee’s fur rushing against him. Appius pushed away and knew if he did not get out of this then it would mean certain doom for his short lived tenure as Taldryan’s head.

“Dammit, Idris! Always getting me into fights with others!”

Appius reached behind him on his belt and pulled out a shock collar which he snapped onto the Wookiee by reaching through their arm and behind them. The Scholaean felt intense pain through his neck, with some of the sparks flying into the Consul’s mask. Dekonikor lifted Appius off the ground the held him with one arm, squeezing his neck tightly. With the other arm he took the shock collar and reached for it, roaring through the pain, and snapped it off after a couple of seconds.

“It’s going to explode!” shouted the Taldryanite.

Dekonikor threw it back down the hall and threw up a swift shield of force energy with both hands, blocking most of the small blast, but dropping the short man down to his feet. Appius used this opportunity to run to the outside. Dekonikor could only see Appius use his mostly functional High Ground pack to boost high into the air.

Dek’s droid peered out from behind the corner, still in the old barbershop. He whispered to Dekonikor, “He called you a coward. Are you going to take that from him?”

The Battlelord roared and raged to the outside streets of the Hutt world.

This was absolutely the last time Appius listened to Idris about anything.

"Go to Nar Shaddaa," Idris had said. "It'll be fun!" he'd said…

Idris had thrown Appius to the proverbial loth wolf. A big, smelly, stupid, hairy loth wolf. He wouldn't put it past the Voice of the Brotherhood to know exactly what would happen when he got here. That Dathomir Witch, his supposed point of contact, was probably in on it too! Idris was probably watching the whole thing go down whilst wetting himself with laughter!

Appius' grumbling was halted when he felt the Force scream through the back of his mind. He looked down to see that Dekonikor had thrown a large, metallic object. It was a speeder bike of all things, and it was careening towards him!

"SITHSPI-"

Panic shot through him, and Appius tried to twist his body out of the way. He narrowly avoided it hitting him, but it hit the left thruster of his jetpack.

"Oh, not good…"

Appius descended in a spiral several feet towards the ground. He managed to weave between buildings before unclipping himself from his jetpack. He crashed along the main street of the Refugee Sector. his jetpack crashed into one of the side alleys, followed by a loud boom that had Nar Shadaa's residence gasping at the sight and sound.

Appius groaned. He was going to be feeling those bruises in the morning. "Idris owes me a new jetpack…"

His head hurt from spinning out of control, and the ringing in his ears made his stomach churn. He summoned the strength to pull himself to his feet, and the neon lighting in the street was almost blinding to his eyes. A crowd had gathered around him, not getting too close. The people of the Refugee Sector didn't trust others at the best of times, being victimised and told they were scum themselves, with gangs running rampant and owning territories of their own. A Mandalorian in brightly colored armor was probably a cause for concern.

"You all need to get out of here!" Appius called out. "It's too dangerous!"

Murmurs erupted among the crowd, but none listened to him.

A blood-curdling roar drowned out all other sounds, drawing the attention of everyone to Dekonikor. The ferocity in their voice echoed across the street, causing mass-spread panic from those with weaker wills.

"Everybody run!"

"Save yourselves!"

"Get out of my way!"

Appius needed to act quickly before his ability to use the Force was limited again. The fleeing crowd had somewhat obscured him from Dekonikor's sight temporarily, and Appius used that moment to reach out with the Force, wrapping it around a bright, fluorescent neon light above the Wookie's head. Appius yanked the sign from the building it was attached to, sparks jittering out of the circuitry as it crashed down upon Dekonikor.

Unfortunately for Appius, the Wookie had noticed just in time to move out of the way of the worst of the impact, having seemingly sensed what was coming. Though as the neon sign crashed, it burst into flames, sparks hissing like threatened Correllian vipers. Embers singed Dekonikor's fur, and they roared a roar of pain that sent vibrations through Appius' bones.

Enough of the crowd had dispersed that Appius got a good look at his assailant. They were a monster of a Wookie, and built like a behemoth too like most of their race. Appius felt a bead of sweat drop down his face, and he was thankful he was wearing his helmet. Idris really knew how to pick them. Appius had faced down the unchained horrors of the Children of Mortis, abominations created by the mind of a madman, and yet they were not as intimidating as the creature that stood before him.

Yet, Appius remained. What kind of Mandalorian would he be if he ran away at the first sign of fear? This was probably what Idris wanted. It was probably what Zxyl, Korvis, and maybe even Koda wanted too; an excuse to call him dar'manda.

To hell with them all!

"You have one chance!" Appius pointed at Dekonokir. "Leave now or-"

He couldn't finish his sentence. He felt his throat tightening as he gasped for air. He clutched at it, hoping somehow to loosen it with his bare hands. He was lifted off his feet inches above the ground by Dekonikor's power as the Wookie choked the life out of him from a distance.

It was at this moment that Dekonikor roared at him… again… The damned Wookie seemed to have one tone with him; pure anger. Though, if Appius' eyes weren't deceiving him, he could swear he saw a smirk appear in the corner of their furred face.

"They say they will enjoy ripping you limb from limb. No-one insults them, ever," the droid had finally caught up to the battle and graciously translated what Dekonikor had said.

Appius felt stinging in his eyes. His vision blurred as the ringing in his ears returned. He had no choice but to summon the Force within him, generating an internal surge of energy that pulsed around him. Appius dropped to the ground, taking in the Nar Shaddaa air like it was nectar from the Life Tree itself.

Dekonikor launched himself at Appius, and the Mandalorian clenched his fists. If it was a fight the Wookie wanted, then it was a fight he was going to get!

Appius shot up to his feet and ran towards Dekonikor at a greater speed than the Wookie was expecting. Fighting through the bruises that pained him, Appius summoned the Force, through his body, and leapt over the Wookie. He landed behind them, grabbing hold of his conversion lightsaber, and activating it.

The Wookiee was startled but quickly ignited their saber. They defended every attack but not with ease. Dek swung to parry, but knew they were outmatched in the wielding of a lightsaber. The Wookiee assumed this battle last long, seething from the lack of a proper haircut they had just received moments ago. They also knew some of the moves that the Consul did were probably against the Rites of Combat that Dek carried with him at all times.

The Wookiee did a lunging step back and deactivated his saber, holding up his hands, casting the giant shield which stood before him. Dek used the Force to combine Appius' worst nightmare with the surface level thoughts from Dek's mind.

Niman...useless...form.

Niman...useless...form.

The disgust of the lightsaber form could be seen across Dek's gnarled lips. But Appius was only momentarily caught off guard and swiftly chuckled through the words of his oppressor. Appius held up his gauntlet and shot a ferocious amount of lightning at the barrier. Dek had used up much of his power, and couldn't hold it much longer. The Taldryanite moved forward with his saber still ignited and lightning still firing off at the barrier. Once it fell, Appius would be in striking distance of Dek's furry arms.

Dek knew the fight was close to over and thought to themself, *Damn! So close, amirite? I have one shot. Only one shot. I have to make it work.

---

Appius looked down at the screen. He had just finished typing the last chapter of his book: How to Win A Girl's Heart in 7 Days. He was a renowned author throughout the Dark Jedi Brotherhood. His books were the best relationship advice he had ever given, and this was from decades of experience. He looked up at his wall and saw the symbol for Clan Scholae Palatinae.

Huh? he questioned to himself. Why is that there? he pandered like unrequited player dialogue from a video game.

The Mandalorian stood and realized he wasn't in his full armor. He was wearing suit and tie with the insignia of Kamjin's Consulship on it.

"No! Not him! Anyone but him!"

He looked around himself, feeling suddenly very out of place. His eyes gazed to a door, a bookshelf, a window, a...WAIT! The window has a reflection! He went over to the window, tripping over the chair he had gotten up from and stared at himself. He was....he was....

---

He shook his head and was back in Nar Shaddaa. Still sending lightning out, and saber still drawn.

"Nice try," the barrier fell and Dek's arms were still out in the open, Appius flung out the saber and singed the ends of Dek's fingers, slicing some of the hairs off. The Wookiee tried throwing a punch straight at Appius but instead the Battlelord's hand was cut clean off. Dek let out a moan and fell to their knees. The droid came upon them, "Victory!"

Appius was confused.

Dek started crying silently as the came upon the Wookiee hand, grabbed it, and held it high. "I am the winner! I am keeping this!"

Appius slapped his helmet, believing he was still in the terror state.

The droid started up, "You must be all sorts of confused! You see, Dekonikor bet me 1 galactic credit that he could get his right hand chopped off by a lightsaber. But you cut off his left! Therefore, I win the credit!"

Appius looked straight ahead at the kneeling Wookiee, "Sith these days..."

His twin emerald blades erupted out of both sides of the hilt, howling like a krayt dragon in both combatants' ears. Appius swung horizontally towards the Wookie's midsection, hoping to end the battle in one swift movement, but the Wookie sensed Appius' intention and drew upon his lightsaber to defend themselves.

Green clashed with red, and sparks hissed between them.

Dekonikor went immediately on the offensive, and though his movements were direct, forward and predictable, Appius struggled to move out of the way. His injury from the fall was worse than he expected. Each sharp movement resulted in a sharp inhale of air as he attempted to ignore the pain.

Still, Appius recognised the techniques his opponent was attempting to use. They were using that of Shii-Cho. It was a direct and blunt fighting style that emphasised wide movements, though Dekonikor seemed to only know the first opening patterns of the form. Appius blocked, parried, and deflected Dekonikor's attacks with ease, ensuring that the Wookie's natural strength became a non-factor. He was aided by the fact that Dekonikor seemed fatigued. Their chest heaved in and out as a result of overexertion with the Force already.

Using the Force so wantonly was a double-edged sword. Their rage granted them incredible power, but like an explosion, it vanished almost immediately until all that was left was flickering flames.

Appius side-stepped one of the Wookie’s wide-angled swings aimed at his head. This was the opportunity he was looking for!

Sparks began to dance at his fingertips, and he unleashed a storm of lightning upon the Wookie at point-blank range. The resulting scream was horrifying as the tendrils of lightning consumed Dekonikor's body in a torrent of hissing lights.

"Ooooowwwww," the droid translated.

After a few seconds, the lightning ceased, and Appius followed up with a hard blast of telekinetic energy.

Dekonikor dropped their lightsaber and soared through the air, finally crashing into one of the Refugee Sector's street shops. Shattered glass was heard as shelving and products collapsed on top of them.

The Mandalorian held the weapon in his hand for a moment before retracting the blades of his weapon. He placed the hilt back on his waist, clutching at his ribs as he struggled for breath.

Damn it, it really hurt! Hopefully, it was nothing a few hours in a bacta tank couldn't fix.

"I hope you're happy…" Appius said. If Idris or any of his fellow Mandabros were watching, they'd get the message.

Appius turned to leave. There was nothing left for him here, after all, but then he heard rummaging coming from the store the Wookie had crashed into. Hard footsteps staggered out of the store, as well as the most furious face Appius had ever been subjected to.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Appius bellowed. If he couldn't sense it, he'd swear his eyes were playing tricks on him.

Yet, lo and behold, there Dekonikor was, slowly proceeding towards him. However, the glass had cut past the Wookie's fur and penetrated their flesh. It left a trail of blood behind them, their face wincing with pain with each step.

"Stop," Appius said. "You're hurt! Just stop now before you get yourself killed!"

Dekonikor roared back at him in response.

"Not until you are dead," the droid translated.

Appius' patience was at its limit. He shot a stream of lightning at the droid, which short-circuited it. It dropped to the ground in a metallic heap.

That did it. The Wookie swore, in Appius' mind at least, bloody vengeance. They stomped over to him, and Appius was about to fire more Force Lightning, but his wrist was grabbed, and forced upwards. Lightning erupted towards the sky, leaving the Wookie unharmed.

With his mighty strength, Dekonikor lifted Appius off of his feet, and strangled him with his giant, furry, spare hand. Appius clawed, punched, and kicked at Dekonikor at any place he could reach, trying everything he could to pry the Wookie off of him. Yet, nothing worked. Dekonikor didn't let the cuts that adorned his flesh concern him as he literally squeezed the life out of Appius. The Taldryan Consul attempted to grab his weapon, but it was forcefully taken by Dekonikor before he could activate it.

For the second time that day, Appius felt starved of oxygen. He felt lightheaded, his eyes began to roll into the back of his head, and his vision began to blur. His thoughts turned to Ankira, Rausu, and Shi'Kar. He might not ever get to see them again. He would die on this cesspit of a world and they would be none the wiser…

'NO!'

Appius refused to go down. He was Mandalorian! Nothing had managed to kill him so far! Many had tried, and today was going to be no different!

He opened his eyes, and there, laying on the ground was the Wookie's lightsaber! He reached out to it, using the Force had become incredibly difficult thanks to the strain on his body. The lightsaber moved a couple of inches, then another, then another.

Appius was fading, he could feel it. He didn't have much time left.

'Come on, come, COME ON!'

Like the Force had heard his command, he gathered the focus required to pull the weapon into his hand. It flew and landed in his palm, and he immediately pressed the ignition switch.

The bright red blade snapped out of the hilt. Dekonikor went wide-eyed but was too slow to react as Appius impaled him through his chest.

Dekonikor gasped, his grip on Appius lightened gradually until he finally let him go. Appius collapsed to the ground, the lightsaber hilt rolling out of his hand. He clutched at his throat, coughing and wheezing as he watched the Wookie fall backwards, mouth open, their eyes distant and lifeless.

Appius slowly staggered back to his feet, slowly approaching the Wookie. He retrieved his weapon and placed it back on his hip.

"I warned you.. " he said, as he slowly left the scene behind him.

However, what he failed to notice was the twitch in the corner of Dekonikor's mouth and hands, the slow, methodical rising in the Wookie's chest. Lethally wounded he may have been, but Dekonikor was still very much alive.