Sanction: Off

2000 short story by Jonathan Hicks

Sixteen years after Episode IV – A New Hope

Vedira had spent the last few hours trying to secure a transport out of Kayshee City and off the surface of Clayboss. He had cajoled and bribed to set up the meeting he now had in the private office of the transport company. He had used his own contacts and several favours to meet the man he now faced, the roughly bearded pilotmaster.

The first indication that something was drastically wrong was when his hired gunman, who had been watching the street for signs of trouble, came flying through the front window. Glass erupted all over those inside the room and as some dived for the exits others dived for their weapons. The bearded pilotmaster grappled for his blaster and Vedira threw himself under the wide holo-table.

The black mandalorian-armoured figure that dived through the shattered glass moved faster than the eye could follow, diving into a roll that enabled him to avoid incoming blaster fire, coming out of the roll and snapping off two stun shots that sent his assailants flying.

“It’s Boba Fett!” someone cried in rough basic, dropping his weapon and scrabbling for the door. The armoured figure stood to his full towering height and visibly clicked his weapon to kill.

“I don’t want you,” he said to the pilotmaster who took his cue and ran through the broken window, leaving the cowering form with the obsidian terror.

“T... Tarr Ranth,” the figure said, swallowing nervously as he stared at the black figure with an inordinately large weapon pointed at him and strangely wishing it was Fett.

“I have an apprehend or terminate warrant on you, Vedira,” Ranth said, stepping forward slowly and crunching broken glass under his heavy boots. “You know the charges.” He raised his stun pistol and prepared to fire. He always found it easier to bring in targets that didn’t put up a fight, and he was pressed for time as it was. He had three more sanctions to complete before he could leave the system and continue his high-paying contract in the Ki-Ki Sector.

“Drop it, Ranth!” came a muted voice behind the black-clad bounty hunter.

Tarr, making sure that Vedira wasn’t armed and therefore presenting no threat whilst he focused his attention behind him, spun quickly, dropped into a crouch and targeted the voice.

Queed stood, silhouetted against the light coming in through the broken window. His own armour was dirty and unkempt, with a heavy helmet covering his face. The helmet had two long mandibles that hung down his armoured chest. He was levelling a heavy blaster rifle at the shining dark hunter.

“You,” Ranth growled. He had met Queed before and remembered their... disagreement. “I have the warrant on this man, Queed. I was here first. Honour my claim.”

“You have no claim,” Queed stepped through the window.

“I have a warrant.”

Queed rested his rifle in the nook of his arm, keeping it pointed at Ranth with one arm whilst reaching down to his belt. Ranth watched intently, making sure that the man wasn’t going to try to spring a trick. Queed wasn’t going to try anything. He unclipped a datapad from his belt and held it up for Ranth to see.

“The warrant has been rescinded,” he said. “There is no bounty on this man.”

Ranth was amazed. He had spent the better part of the week tracking this criminal down, following clues and chasing leads that other hunters would not have noticed, doing in just a few days what would have taken most hunters a few weeks. He looked at his own datapad with the smug face of his quarry on it and shook his head.

“When?”

“This morning. I was told you were after him and that you may not have known.”

“How did you find me?”

Queed’s helmet tilted up and down as he regarded the figure in front of him.

“You kind of stick out in a crowd, Ranth.”

“I won’t let this man go,” Ranth said. “He’s a murderer and a slaver. He has the blood of twenty Twi’lek’s on his hands.”

With an almost imperceptible shake of his head Queed approached further into the room, his rifle lowering.

“Not according to the Kayshee courts. No witnesses turned up to the defendant-absent hearing. No testimony means no case. You can’t have him.”

“I saw him kill two slaves myself an hour ago. That’s why I struck now. I will not let him go.”

“Do you have proof he killed them?”

“Not yet...”

“Then let him go and wipe your warrant pad. You’ll get another chance.”

Vedira started to creep towards a side exit and as his hand came out from under the table Ranth stepped back and placed his heel on it. There was a crunch as Vedira yowled with the pain.

“My hand!”

Ranth looked down at him, his helmet sparkling.

“Going somewhere?”

“Ranth let him go. You have no warrant, you have no...”

“When I get him back to the constabulary I’ll tell them what I saw...”

“And they’ll ignore you. Hunter testimony is inadmissible.”

“I do not lie...”

“And I won’t let you break the code.” Queed brought his rifle back up and Ranth responded by levelling his pistol at Queed’s head. The two armoured hunters were now barely two meters apart. Vedira whimpered on the floor.

“Oh, my gods...”

“If you kill him now, Ranth, you’ll be a murderer not a bounty hunter. You have no legal hold on this target.”

“I won’t let him go. It’s not right.”

Queed tilted his head with what appeared to be confusion.

“But we’re bounty hunters. What do we care about what’s right and what’s wrong?”

“Do you mock me?” Ranth’s attention was fully on Queed now. He cared little if Vedira attempted to run, knowing that he would hardly get two paces before he cut him down. “Do you think I don’t care? I’ve done this job longer than most and I have seen the law powerless to do the things I can do. I have watched beings reduced to shivering wrecks because of matters that are out of their control. I have been able to change that. Because I care.”

There was a strange fluting noise from Queed’s helmet and Ranth tensed. It took him a few moments to realise that Queed was actually laughing. The noise soon turned into a rich laugh that grated his nerves.

“You care? You care? Ha! That’s a new one! My take on the whole bounty hunter thing was that we’re given contracts and we carry them out to the letter of the local law, maybe treading on a few toes to get the job done. When since have we had the inclination... no, the right... to care about what that target has done?”

Ranth wasn’t enjoying this. In front of him was an armoured man who had crossed him and who had broken many laws to get his targets, and here he was laughing at him. Laughing at his code. Laughing at his beliefs.

“How dare you!” he shouted. “How dare you make such insinuations of my character! The law is powerless in many respects but I get the job done where others would fail! Are you painting all hunters with the same holo-brush, Queed? Perhaps it is you who are the misguided one.”

“Once you take the law into your own hands then you go far beyond the creed of hunters, Ranth. You become vigilante, and who gave you the right to judge others, eh? Why did you take the sanctions when you could have easily stalked the night and taken your own vengeance on what you assume to be the wrong doers? Don’t tell me I’m misguided; I’m just doing what the law prescribes. Yes, they do employ us when all else fails, but that’s why we do it. Innocent or guilty, what’s the difference? We complete sanctions. Anything else is personal and therefore makes you the criminal.”

Ranth took his foot off Vedira’s hand now that he was sure the man wasn’t going to try and run. Vedira tenderly cradled his hand to his chest and looked up at the dark hunter with fear.

“My hand...”

“So let’s say I allow this man to go,” Ranth said. “He continues with his killing spree and more beings die. Could you live with that? I couldn’t. I have the chance to stop him and save innocent lives.”

“And how are you going to stop him?” Queed lowered his weapon and stood at ease. “You can’t take him to the law. The warrant is no good and he’ll walk. Are you going to lock him up yourself, and then spend the rest of your life looking after him? Or do you intend to fry him?”

“No...” came a weak voice from under the holo-table.

Both Ranth and Queed turned on the man.

“Shut up!” they shouted in unison.

“In cold blood, Ranth. He’s unarmed. He can’t fight back. He’s as helpless as the beings he killed. It’s easy. Just point and shoot and no more troubles. I do it sometimes when time is pressing or the target is dangerous. Dead or alive, that’s what the warrant says. You lose money on dead, but its so much easier. Go on, prove me wrong. Show me you’re the caring selfless being! Save the galaxy from him! Shoot him! Shoot him!”

“Enough!” Ranth shouted, the words more of a roar than an exclamation.

“Do it! Show the galaxy you care by shooting an unarmed man! Show them you care by letting him go! For freck’s sake, shoot him!”

Tarr spun on Vedira, his weapon primed and humming, the targeting scope lighting up with target acquisition. Vedira cowered, the pain in his hand forgotten due to the sudden threat of his life ending. He closed his eyes and waited.

There was no shot, no blast, no smell of carbon or flash of light. Vedira opened one eye to see Ranth with his pistol at Queed’s head. He exhaled, but quietly so as not to attract attention.

“Why are you doing this?” Ranth hissed. “After all these years, after all I’ve done, what makes you think you have the right to stand there and accuse me of having doubtful morals?”

“Because I know you, Ranth. I’ve seen your kind before. They start the job thinking they have everything sweet and sorted in their heads but when they take in that first innocent target they realise they’ve been misplaced. Have you ever taken in a sanction that has pleaded for mercy? That has told you they’re innocent? ‘There’s been a terrible mistake’, or ‘you’ve got the wrong man’? Think back. How many of your targets have said that and you took them in anyway?”

“I did everything the law required...”

“Oh, that old excuse. So what are you doing now? The law requires you to let this man go. Shoot him now, break that law, and they’ll make sure there’s a bounty on your head so big you’ll never be able to show your face in public again. You’ll be a rogue hunter. A liability. A bad stain on the guilds.”

Ranth’s pistol was wavering.

“And what of you, Queed? Are you acting honourably now? Did you come out here to help this man or me? This has been building this up for a long time. Since our last altercation. You can’t beat me in combat so you’ll beat me with words, is that it? What happened to your sense of conduct, loyalty to the guild, when you have to track down an adversary so that you can spout this garbage and convince me I’m in the wrong job? I think you don’t like the competition. You can’t kill me, by the code or by skill, so you’ll force me out of the job. Treading on your toes, am I? Taking those sanctions you wanted. Stealing your limelight. I don’t worry about such trivial things. I know the risks. I know some targets may be innocent but I bring them in, and the law decides.”

“Oh, yes, I have a lot of faith in Mid-Rim law.”

“Don’t think me a fool. You assume too much. You stand there spouting your rubbish about hunter’s creed, but I have one thing you’ll never have. Standards. That’s what you hate about me. I have the soul that you crave.”

Queed cleared his throat uncomfortably.

“Were you thinking of standards when you set Boba Fett up?”

Ranth stiffened and growled menacingly.

“What?”

“You know, when you lured Boba Fett out with that false sanction and beat him up. You recorded the whole thing, blackmailing his reputation as the best so that he wouldn’t cross you.”

“How could you know about that?”

Queed tilted his head with surprise.

“What, you don’t know? After it happened, Fett told everyone what you’d done. He doesn’t give a freck about image; he just gets the job done, like you, like me. If some arrogant upstart wants to feel superior and think he’s got one up on him then that’s fine, as long as he doesn’t come between him and his target. He’s not proud.” Queed paused for a brief second. “Wait... you mean you didn’t know that everyone knew?” Queed guffawed. “You didn’t know? After all these years... why do you think you’re still hunting in the Mid-Rim? Who near the Core’ll want to hire an arrogant hunter who thinks he can blackmail his way to the top? Ha. Ha ha ha...”

All Ranth could do was watch the armoured hunter rock back in merriment, the laugh striking him in the heart like a vibroblade. His finger tensed on the trigger but he didn’t discharge the blaster.

“Where was your sense of honour then, Ranth? Where was your pride when you struck down Boba Fett just so you could feel superior?” Queed suddenly fell serious. “What arrogance. Petulance. Your reputation was decided after you attacked him. What you did was underhanded and, dare I say it, totally immoral.”

“Fett was my greatest adversary. My greatest threat. I defeated him to prove myself.”

“Honourable combat between two bounty hunters? Don’t make me laugh, Ranth, it hurts my chest breather.”

Ranth lowered the blaster and leaned back against the holo-table, looking down at his boots as if becoming weary of the conversation. His stance was that of a man who was relaxed and calm, although Queed’s words had struck him like a blaster shot. Ranth was far too experienced to allow his emotions to be relayed to an adversary. He was glad he had denied Queed the chance to gloat over any distress he may of felt, and he smiled behind his visor as Queed shifted, obviously a little taken aback by Ranth’s apparent ease.

“You wouldn’t understand, Queed. You don’t know my life, my view of this existence.”

“You’re right. I don’t understand. I’ll never understand.”

Ranth didn’t look up as Queed turned to leave. All he heard was the crunching of glass under his heavy combat boots. Vedira was silent now, just listening to the words, not understanding the meaning of it all. The crunching stopped by the broken window as Queed turned back to Ranth.

“You said I hated you, Ranth. Want to know why?”

“I’m sure you’ll tell me,” Ranth said quietly, his mind still whirling from the conversation.

“Because you have standards. Morals. You do have feeling and hope and a sense of justice. I don’t hate your image or your little armour toys or your skill. I don’t even hate your ability at this job. You have feelings. Honourable intentions. I’ll never be like you. That’s why I hate you.”

Ranth didn’t have to look up to know that Queed was gone.

Vedira crawled out from under the holo-table. He looked at the groaning forms of the others on the floor and the tall black nightmare leaning on the table.

“What happens to me?” he whispered.

Ranth didn’t look at him.

“Get out of here.”

Vedira, knowing that the sanction was off and he was legally in the clear started for the door with a huge smile on his face. With a smug spin on his heel he turned to face Ranth.

“Nice to meet you, Mister Ranth,” he said through his wide grin.

Ranth didn’t move.

“Catch you later,” he rumbled.

Vedira’s smile dropped, and he ran like a whole host of hunters were on his tail.

Sanction: Off

2000 short story by Jonathan Hicks

Sixteen years after Episode IV – A New Hope

Histories – Written by Jonathan Hicks, this tale tells of a later meeting between the old adversaries Tarr Ranth and Queed. Set almost a quarter of a century after the events of Black Armour, this brief encounter is another piece in the decision for Ranth to give up his days as a bounty hunter and take up the mantle of Jedi Knighthood under the tutelage of Blake De’Athe.

Cast of Characters

Tarr Ranth

Queed