My Name is Ranth
2004 short story by Louis Turfrey Thirty-Eight years after Episode IV – A New Hope
“My name is Ranth. Tar Ranth.” The man looks at me with a
quizzical expression on his face whilst my ID card is checked through their
computers. His pupils widen significantly when he sees that the card is
legitimate. His hand shakes slightly as he hands it back to me.
“How long will you be staying Sir?” I look him in the eye and smile
gently.
“Only a few days. I have business on planet.” He nods and hands me the key to
the presidential suite.
“Have the porter droid bring my bags up to my room?” He nods eagerly.
“Certainly Sir, and if there is anything you need, anything at all,
don’t hesitate to ask.” I nod in reply and flip him a
fifty-credit coin. I’m counting on him remembering me. After changing to my eveningwear
in the room, my first stop is the gaming tables. Slings Hotel is famous for
its gaming tables. Nobody has beaten the house in fifteen years. Because of
the upheaval in the Galactic Alliance, and the ongoing war with the Ki-Ki,
nobody had questioned this. Until now. My contact is waiting at the
holographic chess tables, playing the house computer. I walk up to his table
and nod at him.
“Mind if I interrupt your game. I haven’t played a human for a few
months.” He nods,
his reply seemingly unpractised.
“Not at all, it’s less dangerous than playing a Wookie, and no doubt
more profitable.” That was the correct reply, and
so I sit down opposite. He reactivates the game and I take the position of
the black player.
“Good to see you again Skumul.
What have you got for me this time?” She is dazzling, lithesome and
extremely deadly. She is also an ex-collaborator and a member of the now
defunct Peace Brigade. They say she made her money by selling out Jedi to the
Yuuzhan Vong, and it makes me sick to my stomach that former colleagues of
mine may now be dead because of her. Kea
“Mister Ranth, my concierge told me you had arrived. Does your room
meet with your expectations?” Actually, it far surpassed my
expectations, but I wasn’t about to tell her that.
“It’s adequate for my needs.” I deliberately look her up and down,
smirking slightly as I do so. “Love what you’ve done with the place. Neo-imperial design, right?” She hid the frown quickly and
directed her gaze towards the fortune wheel to my right.
“Would you care to take a chance Mister Ranth? I hear that you are a
lucky man.” I examined the wheel, clicking a
small stud on my belt as I did so. Retina implants that normally formed a
part of my bounty hunter armour scanned the wheel. I saw the graviton flux
device implanted below the main spindle and couldn’t help but smile.
“Why not? I feel lucky
tonight.” She smiled, obviously expecting
some payback. I placed a credit chit across four numbers on the table and
watched as the croupier closed the bet. The wheel spun one way, the ball spun
the other. There was a clatter as it ran around the outside of the wheel,
bouncing of the chance pins near the edges. There was a brief flash of energy
and the ball came to a rest on one of the numbers. I smiled as the credit
pile was passed in my direction.
“Must be my lucky night.” My hostess smiled coldly at my
words. I could see her trying to figure out how I had done it, but my
equipment was too well disguised. Besides, how many people could aim a ring
mounted mini repulsor with enough accuracy to hit a ball moving at sixty
clicks? The croupier looked to her and she nodded almost imperceptibly.
“Double down all bets. Please replace chips on the table.” That was awkward. A double down
meant that all credits won in the previous play had to be replaced on the
table. It was a call that the house could only make once a night. In the next
spin, there was an even chance of winning the table jackpot. If the ball
landed on an even number, I won. If not, then the bank retained my credits. I
frowned openly, using the action to focus in on the table. My implants showed
a net of sensor beams activate across the wheel, they were taking no chances.
I knew I would not be able to pierce the beam. Normally, my only chance would
have been to let luck make the play. On a rigged table like this, that would
have been expensive. I had more weapons in my arsenal than a simple repulsor
though. I waited for the wheel to start spinning and played nervously with my
cufflink. I felt a slight tingle as the Ion field, generated by my shoes,
came on line. My implants showed the graviton generator splutter and die. Now
it was just lady luck, the Force and me.
“Double down, player wins.” The house went silent for a
moment, and then there were a few gasps as the total flashed across the
holographic display that hung over our heads. Two million credits flashed
above me. There was a slight tingling sensation at the back of my mind and I
grinned as I saw the concentration on my hostesses face. I shut my mind like an
icy block and whilst she was still looking at me from across the table I
sighed and shook my head. I moved up closer to her, so that she could hear my
whisper.
“Don’t you know it’s rude to try and read somebody else’s thoughts?” I
walked off towards the cash desk and transferred the credits back into my
account. I heard her walking up behind me and sensed her anger and her
surprise. She was standing there, hands on hips, as I turned around.
“I was told you were a clone of your father. Is that true?” Direct and straight to the point, just how I
like my women. I smiled and took a step closer to her.
“No, I am not a clone. I am Tar Ranth, Jedi Knight and Bounty Hunter.”
I fixed her with a gaze harder than neodymium alloy, using it to examine
every centimetre of her curves, and lowered my voice again. “And for what
it’s worth, I love that dress.” I walked off to my room feeling her anger
rising behind me. She had been found out, she knew it, and I knew she knew
it, but she couldn’t do anything about it – yet. It was
two hours past midnight when the door to my room quietly slid open. There was
the light patter of feet as somebody approached the bed. The silhouette of a
woman was briefly outlined in the light coming from my open curtains. She
moved towards the bed, and I realised that she no longer appeared to be
wearing any shoes. She stopped and looked down towards the covers. I chose
that moment to turn on the lights.
“Little late for a courtesy call isn’t it?” My blaster covered the
startled form of my hostess, who was dressed in far less than I had seen her
in earlier. She recovered her composure quickly, placing her hands on her
hips and spreading her stance more provocatively. I smiled. She smiled back.
“A little ungentlemanly of you to draw a blaster on a lady isn’t it?” I looked at the blaster and to
her obviously unarmed form and placed it upon the bedside table. “You’re no lady.” A
brief flash of anger, and I intercepted first one hand and then a second, as
she tried to slap me.
“Let go of me you oaf.” She
drew in closer; “I’ll kill you if I have to.” I knew she wasn’t bluffing, but
I quickly turned her around and pushed her face first into the bed. A scant
second later and her hands were cuffed behind her. I rolled her back over
onto her back as she struggled in impotent anger
“I believe you were about to say something?” My Name is Ranth
2004 short story by Louis Turfrey Thirty-Eight
years after Episode IV – A New Hope Histories
– Now back in the bounty hunting business with a vengeance, this
short tale shows Ranth
doing what all Ranths do best – hunting. With a personal edge to his mission, Ranth
hunts down the manipulative Kea Verona, a member of the now defunct Peace Brigade, a
group who sold out the Jedi to the Yuuzhan Vong during their invasion of the
galaxy. Cast of Characters
Tar
Ranth Critchek
Skumul Kea |