The Lesser of Two Evils

1996/1999/2000 short story by Mark Newbold

Three years after Episode IV - A New Hope

Lee Anarri knocked back the last shot with a gulp of disgust, squinting away the acrid taste.  Slowly opening his eyes he looked sideways at the Maroanian seated to his right.

   “Okay, I’ve toasted your family honour in the traditional way and drank another five shots to honour your gods.  Now, do we have a deal?  Do you want to go to Kandor III before or after I’m too drunk to fly the ship?”

Taroa the Maroan smiled at Lee, his head-wide mouth splitting like a Yuma-melon and nodded.

   “Captain Anarri.  You have honoured my ancestors and my gods.  Now their spirits ride with me.”  He stood up gracefully.

Lee raised an eyebrow and poured another shot.

   “And for three thousand credits they can ride with me.”

He wasn’t sure how much more his battered freighter could take.  Lasers rained down from the hovering Star Destroyer Malcontent like twisted star fire, and Lee did all he could to avoid them.  Enough that his Maroan passenger refused to help him defend the ship for fear of angry spirits claiming his soul.  He could almost stomach the unbelievable misfortune of encountering a Star Destroyer this far out on the Rim.  Really, things couldn’t get any worse.

   “Rebel Alliance freighter, for the final time desist your attempts at escape and prepare to be boarded.”

Lee flashed an angry glance at the comm.

   “Look Commander K’Tell, this isn’t a Rebel ship.  I’m a passenger freighter with a paid up license.  What’s your problem?”  Static crackled as another bolt narrowly missed the Vision of Tereen.

   “…angerous criminal aboard…r ship.  We recommend you dock imm…..ly.”

Anarri frowned at that.  They’ve got a dangerous passenger aboard the Malcontent and they want me to dock?  Why?  Is it someone I should rescue?  I thought all the Princess’ were taken.

A knock from behind distracted Lee and he spun around in his seat.

   “Good Taroa, I see you’ve finally decided to lay off the spirits and help us both make it to the afterlife in one piece.”

   “Unfortunately not.”  Taroa raised a blaster pistol and aimed it at the shocked pilot’s face.  “Taroa is currently asleep.  Wrestling with his conscience, or lack of it.   I’m Menon, his grandfather.  And this,” he surveyed the cramped cockpit area.  “Will do nicely.”

He couldn’t see or do a thing, the binding was simply too tight.  Lee frowned as he tried to re-orient himself so his back was against the wall.  At least he could try to figure out where he was.  Taroa, or Menon as he now was, had blindfolded and bound him in the cockpit, flown the Tereen for a short while and then marched him here.  Lee squinted under the course blindfold.  Did we evade the Star Destroyer?  How did they know about my passenger?  Could I have been tailed that easily?  He cursed under his breath.  Eight years as a field researcher, gathering information for survival manuals like Krakens Rebel Field Guide and he was still set up like a first years cadet.  Lall wouldn’t have been caught up so easily, he groaned to himself.   My little sis would have got out of this years ago.

Anarri had managed to get his bearings.  He figured he was in the storage locker.  With his loose finger he found the release catch and opened a small door.   Inside lay the starship repair kit.  Not the most obvious place for such a kit, but then why not?  Gingerly twisting the cutting laser in his fingers he set to work.

The Vision of Tereen had traversed half way around the planet of Kandor III and slipped free of the ISD Malcontent with ease.  At the helm Menon, as he was now, rubbed his temples thoughtfully.  Maroans had to endure hardships such as this and it was no hollow toast that Lee had drunk to back on Sizora.  Maroans literally stored the spirit of their ancestors in the sub-conscious mind of their offspring.  And dead Maroans easily took offence.  Taroa had lost his concentration and Lee missed one traditional drink to an ancestor, hence the arrival of Menon.  And so Menon had control once again, for the first time in years.  And he planned to enjoy it.  Taroa was a weak and feeble excuse for a Maroan, a shameful child.  His spirit would only weaken the Ancestral Chain.  Menon would have to take control of the situation and build his grandson a worthy reputation.

Powering up the batteries he swung the Tereen around and began a sharp descent towards Kandor III’s primary city.

Lee felt the thump as the Vision of Tereen landed hard and quick on Kandor III’s surface.  He barely managed to resist the temptation to yelp out loud as his head was thrown back into the collection of tools and cleaning utensils that lay at the back of the locker and concentrated on cutting the last of the binding ties away.  He could make out the sound of Menon as he moved around in the adjacent cockpit and prepared to exit the ship.  You’re really going to pay for this, you schizophrenic maniac.  I’ve got every sympathy for personality disorders, but this one really takes my understanding to the limit.

The binding came free and Lee rubbed at his wrists, bringing the blood back to his tingling hands.  He shook his fingers and stood to his feet quietly.  Menon was about to leave the Vision and go…wherever.  Lee Anari had already decided that he wouldn’t be going anywhere.

Lee opened the door a crack, seeing Menon standing at the top of the ramp, blaster in hand.  Down the ramp he could see the green grasses of Kandor III, the rain softly splashing against the ground.  Lee knew that Kandor III was a peaceful world, a planet rare on the Outer Rim given its prosperous status.  He hadn’t yet figured out why Menon had decided to come here.  But wait a second.  It wasn’t Menon who wanted to come here, it was Taroa.  Menon managed to take him over en route. 

So Taroa had travelled here for another reason.  Something that had nothing to do with the latent consciousness of his grandfather.  His apparently evil grandfather, who had taken advantage of some kind of lapse in his grandson and taken control of him.  Lee frowned as Menon disappeared down the ramp and silently exited the locker as the ramp closed shut.  There’s still something else missing here.  What am I missing?

He crept into the cockpit and watched Menon disappear into the distance, the misty rain making the Maroan a hazy, diminishing figure.  Lee activated his console and began to scroll down his database, an extensive listing of all he had learned during his years out in the field with the nascent Rebellion. 

There!  Dammit, I knew it was something like this!  He looked up out into the rain that was driving harder with every passing second.  I’ve got to stop him.

Menon stood before the pirate leader, his blaster dangling limply in his hand as he surveyed the four motley characters before him.  The lead pirate stepped forward, his broad shoulders and torso barely covered by the leather waistcoat and bandolier that adorned him and squinted at the Maroan.

   “You seem different Taroa.  What’s happened?”

Menon smiled and folded his arms across his chest, his massive split-faced smile reaching from ear to ear.

   “Something.  Everything.  Nothing that concerns you.  Are we here to talk business, or are we just going to stand here and get wet?”

The pirate leader turned to his posse and laughed out loud, the rain hitting harder and harder.

   “Not quite the lily-livered shy-boy that he was when we last spoke, huh?”  He turned back to Menon.  “I don’t know where you got your gall from boy, but I like it.  You’re gonna need it to do what needs to be done.”

Menon smirked outwardly as he felt his grandson struggle and rise closer and closer to the surface.

   “Whatever it takes.”

   “Yes, you heard me correctly.  Kandor III, the capital city.  You’ve got to get down here right now and sort this out.”

The line crackled as the com operator struggled to keep a clear signal.

   “Commander K’Tell is busy right now.  You’re going to have to wait before speaking to him.”

Lee shook his head and cursed out loud.  Damn Imperials!  Can’t get rid of them when you want to, but when you really need help…

   “Listen pal, if I had the time to wait do you think I would have intercepted your frequency and called you direct?  This is an emergency, and I’m telling you to sort it out.  Right now.”

The com operator paused for a second, taken aback at the directness of Anari’s words.

   “The commander will be with you shortly.”

Lee sighed as he waited.  Every second that passed was another second that Menon was with…whoever.  And even though he didn’t know who that person or persons were, he knew that they were a bad bunch.  It was the nature of the Maroan consciousness.  Reverting to type.

   “I understand you wish to speak with me.”  Commander K’Tell’s voice crackled down the line.  Lee snapped back to the present and leaned in to the mic.

   “Commander, this is Captain Anari.  Look, I know we had our brief…altercation before, but I now understand what you were trying to tell me.”

   “And it only took fifty turbo laser cannons to make you realise.”

Lee grinned and shook his head in amusement.

   “I never was one for picking up on the obvious. The Maroan is on the outskirts of the city.  I don’t know who he’s speaking to, but I can only assume from your previous reaction that it must be someone important.”

   “We were preparing our own further investigations into the matter, but yes.  Our intelligence shows that the Maroan you know as Taroa is meeting with a group of pirates.  A group from the Setnin Sector who are prepared to instigate a conflict between two planets in the sector.”

Lee frowned.  This is interesting.

   “Who?”

   “That’s none of your concern.  Suffice to say, I intend to stop it.  If there are any battles anywhere in the galaxy then they’ll be dictated by the Empire.”

Hooray for diplomacy, thought Lee.

   “Well, I’ve given you your information.  I hope you stop them.  I suggest jamming the planet’s frequencies before they can send a hyperspace message back to Setnin.”

Commander K’Tell nodded in agreement.

    “A wise precaution.”  He paused.  “I was right, wasn’t I?  You are a Rebel.”

Lee leaned forward to flick the off switch. 

   “I was a Rebel.  Now I’m in it for myself.  And if the Empire are best suited to sort things out, then so be it.”

   “A fair enough outlook on life.  Safe journey Captain Anari.”

Menon nodded in satisfaction as the last details of the deal were finalised.  The pirate leader stretched his hand out, a pirate’s way of agreeing the deal.  Menon looked at the hand in distain – he so hated physical contact, but took the hand anyway.

   “It’s agreed,” Menon began.  “You contact your people and we sit back and let the conflict begin.”

   “If you think that it will benefit your people, then who am I to argue.  Credits are what we are interested in, and that’s what we are going to get.  Lots of them.”

   “I wouldn’t count on that.”

The pirates and Menon turned around swiftly and saw the slim figure of Lee Anari standing alone in the rain, his all weather jacket flapping in the light breeze.  He was going to leave the planet in the Vision, but he felt he had to see the resolution of this matter – one way or the other.  Menon frowned, his wide mouth turning down in a look of disgust.

   “You.  You would have been better served by staying in that locker.  It would have been safer.”

   “I might say the same thing Taroa.”

   “I’m Menon.  Menon is in command now.”

Lee pulled an amused face and shook his head.

   “Is that what you really believe?  Damn, you know even less about your culture than I do.”

Menon frowned as the lead pirate stepped forward and pointed at Lee.

   “Who the stang is this barve?  You were supposed to come here alone.”

   “Pay him no mind.  He’s the foolish pilot who transported us to this place.”

The pirate frowned and folded his arms.

   “Us?  What the hell are you talking about?” He cocked his head and then raised his eyebrows in realisation.  “I get it…you’re not Taroa, are you?”

Menon snarled as he turned on the pirates and raised the profile of his blaster just enough to make the other pirates raise their own.

   “That foolish young dolt couldn’t make a tough call in a two Tauntaun race.  This situation required a harder edge.”

Lee stepped forward.

   “That’s right.  So he called on you.”

   “I took control.  My choice, my decision.”  

Lee shook his head again, the rain trickling down his collar.

   “Wrong again.  That foolish young dolt is playing you for a sucker.  All this time I thought you’d taken him over, and now I realise it’s the other way around.  He conjured you up from the depths to give him the guts to make this deal.  Because he knew deep down that it was the only way he could make the call.  Taroa has too much of a guilty conscience, but not enough of one to stop letting a scummer like you out when the tough choices have to be made.”

Menon growled beneath is breath and raised his blaster towards Lee Anari who waited patiently for whatever happened.  Menon saw the relaxed manner in which Lee faced his death and paused, then grabbed at his temples with both hands and threw his mouth open wide as if his entire head had been pulled back one hundred and eighty degrees.  His blaster hit the soft damp ground as Menon dropped to his knees and screamed….

…and then rose to his feet with an altogether different expression across his face.  That of the young Taroa. 

   “I couldn’t let him do it.  Not in cold blood.”

The pirates stepped back in confusion at what was happening, looking at each other in surprise.  The leader pointed a stubby finger at Lee.

   “I don’t know who you are but know this.  The deal is still on.”  He reached down to a communicator at his hip and raised it to his mouth.  “Make the call.  Setnin is about to become a battleground again.”

   “I think not.” 

All of them turned at the new voice, and all of them cursed themselves for not noticing the stealthy approach of a twelve strong squad of Stormtroopers and Commander K’Tell.  The commander stood next to Lee.

   “You can be rest assured that the only call you’re going to be getting from now on is the 05.00 early morning call.  At the Arsazz Mining Colony on Lydon.  Come on.”  He motioned to the troopers, who roughly grabbed the pirates and hauled Taroa to his feet.  As he was hauled away, the young Maroan spun and yelled at Lee.

   “You don’t know what you’ve done!  You’ve doomed us all!”

   “A trifle dramatic.”  K’Tell waited patiently next to Lee as the group was rounded up and bundled into the waiting shuttle that sat humming in the rain just beyond the circle of trees.  “But probably correct.”

   “Correct for who, exactly?”  Lee pushed his hands into his pockets and eyed K’Tell closely.  The commander smiled as he turned and walked away towards the shuttle.

   “The next time we meet, remember whose side you’re on.”

Lee watched the shuttle lift off into the sky and towards the ISD Malcontent, and as the rain abated he couldn’t help but wonder.

Whose side am I on now?

The Lesser of Two Evils

1996/1999/2000 short story by Mark Newbold

Three years after Episode IV – A New Hope

Histories - An unusual story that uses no regular or recurring characters and has little bearing on the main events of the timeline.  Starring Lee Anarri, an RPG character used by Mark Newbold for a while during the mid-1990's, this story showed us some of the more treacherous races of the sector and how even an experienced operator like Anarri could fall for their lies.

Cast of Characters

Lee Anarri

Taroa/Menon