TuQ’uan sat in the passenger seat of the open top airspeeder staring down at his datapad, unable to concentrate on the words being displayed. At least it was better than seeing where they were headed. The Kel Dor's stomach churned as the speeder dipped, dived and weaved unnecessarily through the wide open air above the oceans of Sesid.

“I'd like to arrive in one piece,” the mercenary muttered to himself. “Or just arriving would be nice.”

Zuser Whuloc turned his head and stared at his passenger all the while continuing his erratic flying.

“Excuse me?” Zuser calmly enquired, annoyance showing in his currently green eyes. “That's not how you say thank you to someone, here let me show you how.”

Without taking his eyes off the Kel Dor, Zuser pulled up hard on the controls and yanked them to the right causing the airspeeder to go into a corkscrew. The human proceeded to remove his right hand from the controls and release TuQ’uan’s safety harness sending the mercenary tumbling the thirty feet from the speeder towards the water and a small island below.

It took a moment for the mercenary to realize what was going on, seeing the water and beach rushing up to meet him, he braced for impact. TuQ’uan landed with a thud just past the edge of the water, sending sand flying up into the air. The Kel Dor laid still for a while, his everything seemed to hurt.

*And this is why everyone warned me not to fly with Zusser, the man’s insane,* TuQ’uan inwardly moaned. Groaning he slowly got to his feet, testing out his injuries he came to the conclusion that nothing was broken, just severely bruised and battered. Next it was time to take stock of his possessions. Patting himself down and rifling through his pockets the first thing TuQ’uan found was his trusty datapad, brushing sand away revealed just a few small cracks in the screen, which he could easily live with. Next he found a bottle of Whyren's Reserve, a very rare Corellian Whisky that he had picked up from Zuser’s private stores while he wasn't around. The bottle luckily remained unharmed from the fall, thank goodness for those Corellians!

TuQ’uan finally took a moment to take in his surroundings, he was currently standing on the beach of a relatively small tropical island that he suspected could be walked around in a total length on an hour. The beach was about 30 feet wide and wrapped around the entire perimeter of the island, forming a ring around a thick, miniature, tropical forest. All in all it looked like the stereotypical desert island.

Looking out at the ocean he had just been traveling over, the Kel Dor realized something felt wrong. He figured out why pretty quickly, a little ways down the beach the mercenary's hat was washing up on shore. Slowly TuQ’uan hobbled over to pick up the soaking wet hat, the only sound to keep him company was the ocean breeze and his winces as he tried desperately to avoid igniting too much pain.

Placing the soggy hat back where it belonged, TuQ’uan was ready to get to work. First he pulled his datapad out and looked for, “How to Build a Hammock While Trapped on a desert Island 101”. It was an interesting, albeit short read. Now it was time to work, he set off towards the trees.

After a few hours of working TuQ’uan was exhausted, stepping back the mercenary admired his hard work. Hanging just on the edge of where the trees met the beach was a rough looking, makeshift hammock made from branches woven together and using leaves as a pillow. It was finally time to relax. Laying down on the hammock the Kel Dor pulled his datapad out again, started a new book and took a swig of the stolen Whyren’s Reserve. He was able to down close to half the bottle before passing out from the exhaustion.

As the last of the daylight faded over the horizon, TuQ’uan’s snoring blended in with the sound of the tide lapping up onto the beach. Crunching footsteps made their way up to the mercenary's tropical camp. Looking down at the sleeping Kel Dor, Zuser reached out and angrily grabbed the half empty bottle from its place leaning against the Kel Dor's stomach. The Dark Jedi turned to leave but paused for a moment before taking the hat off of TuQ’uan’s head and leaving.

“Take something of mine, I'll take something of yours,” Zuser grumbled under his breath as he placed the hat on his own head and took a drink from the bottle. Jumping back into the airspeeder Zuser left TuQ’uan stranded once more only this time without alcohol or hat.

There once was a senator from Naboo
Who had many plans to do
And what a surprise
For he'd tell you no lies
The tale of Darth Plagueis the wise

Laren, why so blue?
your eyes are red, please don't cry
Would you like a hug?

Blaster fire rained down on TuQ’uan and his squad as they squatted behind the remains of a short, duracrete wall at the bottom of the hill. They grey gloomy sky threatened a storm. This was the first time the Kel Dor had held any military positions so he was just making it up as he went along.

“Listen, we have been tasked with an impossible mission, and I'm not going to waste my time lying to you, I have no idea what I'm doing right now,” TuQ’uan exclaimed to the soldiers placed under his command. “I'm also not going to waste my time learning any names.”

He pointed at a human soldier at the end of the wall, “hey ugly!”

The soldier looked around confused and pointed at himself.

“Yes, you!” he screamed, “I need a report on the situation, take a peek and see if you can find us an opening!”

The human cautiously poked his head around the corner. The soldier had his head a mere inch past the wall when he suddenly fell back unconscious.

“Well, now we know they have a sniper, at least he was useful. Now what about the rest of you,” he scanned the group in front of him. Starting at the end closest to the unconscious soldier TuQ’uan started grouping them together. “Alright, you five, run as fast and as you can and as far as you can down the left side of the hill. Try weaving while you run if you have to in order avoid their blaster fire. Once you are out of firing range I want you to climb the hill and flank them, make sure you stay low on approach to avoid being seen.” He turned to the group closest to the right hand side of the wall. “Alright, I want you five to do the same thing, except, you know, in the opposite direction.” Finally he turned to the group in the middle, “I want you three are going to lay down suppressing fire, make sure you keep our opponents occupied, don't let them get a chance to hit any more of our soldiers.”

“What about me sir?” a lone Rodian spoke up, the only soldier who hadn't been given an assignment, or unconscious.

The mercenary leader simple chuckled, “oh, you're coming with me, I have a very special assignment for you. Alright I'm going to countdown from thirty… no, that's too high, ten. I'm going to countdown from ten, when I reach zero everyone goes where I told them.”

TuQ’uan let the soldiers ready themselves before beginning the countdown. When he finished chaos ensued as the soldiers ran in the various directions zig zagging to avoid fire. Immediately three soldiers on the right were down, two on the left and the blasters providing cover fire were already getting close to overheating. TuQ’uan and his Rodian compatriot were walking down the hill in the complete opposite direction of the location they were tasked with capturing. *They look ridiculous*, the Kel Dor shook his head as he walked away from the engagement.

Two Hours Later.
------------------------

The cantina was packed and laughter filtered through the air as the front door slammed open. Fourteen mud covered soldiers walked through door with scowls on their faces. An ugly looking human lead the group, scanning the faces in the room as he pushed the patrons out of the way. As he approached the bar he spotted his target.

“I'm guessing we lost?” TuQ’uan quipped. Unamused with the Kel Dor’s sense of humour the ugly human soldier swung a wide haymaker aimed directly at the mercenary's skull. Connecting with a crack, TuQ’uan fell backwards from the stool he was sitting on, the Rodian watched with a nervous amazement.

“What is wrong with you?!” the Pantoran screamed across the small office at TuQ’uan, “get your head in the game. War is coming! We are going to war. This is going to be unlike anything you have ever seen before in your life. Did I mention are going to war?” Laren’s features softened a bit, but his golden eyes remained intense.

“Look, I know you don't want to hear this but this war involves Force users, on both sides. But worry not, many a great mercenary before us has gone up against a Force user before us and lived; Cad Bane, Boba Fett, Aura Sing. I mean, they aren't alive anymore, but that had nothing to do with their fights against Force Users,” he leaned, both hands on the desk between the two, staring with unblinking eyes into the Kel Dor’s goggles.

“This will be a difficult time for all, we will lose many on all sides of the conflict. People you consider friends and allies? They may be dead by this time tomorrow. Or not, you never know,” sighing Laren took a seat.

“I don't expect much from you, I don’t even expect you to survive this, and surely not unscathed either physically or mentally, but if you do there will be glory. And credits, there will be lots of credits. And so help me if you don't share the credits, I will hunt you down myself. Now go out there, make Plagueis proud! And don't forget to make us some money!”

Manually added by Savant Kelly Mendes