We Know Heroes by the Wake They Leave--PM for details

[James Justice]

James adjusted the satchel across his side with a sigh. His eyes narrowed as he looked across the vast desert that was Soceras' southern hemisphere. The heat of the hellish sun beat down on him. A hell that he deserved.

The ground was unkind, the sun was unloving, and the air itself was toxic with the stench of metallic rot--if there was such a thing. Here was a place he fit in, a place he deserved. The barbarism was suiting for him, James thought, after all the actions he had committed.

His eyes spotted a canyon torn in the ground from Verga's last pass across the lower equator. James hurried his pace gratefully to take a brief refuge in its shade. He sank on a rock and relished the semi-pleasure of not being in the grueling light. He didn't know why he was here, but he knew he would when he found it. Or it found him.

It was dangerous here, with the many savages. Some were cannibals--others were worse, worshipers of Sith Lords from bygone ages. There were tales along the city of DalBor of what these beings were capable of, atrocities that even the Sith Lords in the Core would shutter to hear.

James lowered his head a moment, this truly was the suited place for him, a place of savagery and terror.

 

[James Justice]

"You," grunted a voice.

James opened his eyes, he must have dozed off for a second, he hadn't slept a full night in several days. The need for rest crept upon him like a lecherous murderer.

"You," grunted the voice again. It was accomplained with a hand grabbing a tuft of his hair and jerking James' head up.

His eyes took in the figure in a moment. James couldn't tell what the beings race was, it was most likely some amalgamation of inbred races. James recognized a mostly human characteristic to his form, but the being was beyond all brutish. A crudely made spear was clutched in his hand that looked like it had been torn from a ship ages ago and weathered into a weapon. James' dark eyes glanced around, there were several others with him, wielding spears, swords, daggers, outdated blasters, and sharp rocks. All were sparely clothed with primitive tattoos. Some were males, some females, some he couldn't tell.

"You," the voice grunted, 'Who you?"

James' eyes took the man in slowly. His blaster was on his thigh still, he could easily draw it and blast each into the end of the world without much of a challenge. They would all be dead before they even knew what happened. But--why, he wondered. What good would it do to kill more people?

The man grew tired of waiting and pressed the spear's tip to James' throat, "Who you?"

"Do it," James whispered in a horse voice, "I won't stop you. End it."

The man looked at James curiously. The thought was clear, why isn't he fighting back? The man looked back to woman beside him and muttered one word, "Dinner."

 

[James Justice]

As soon as the word left the cheiftan's mouth, James heard a hiss. An arrow stuck itself deep into the man's throat, sending a splatter of blood before he collapsed into the dirt. James watched with dispassionate eyes as several figures came charging don the canyon. They looked blocky, almost like machines, it was only when they got closer that James realized they were wearing thick plated armor. The savages fell on them with several screams, their weapons ready. But they stood no chance. The seven armored figures quickly cut through the savages in a matter of seconds, leaving a trail of corpses. James could not help but notice that their moves were swift, calculated, and effective. These were no rabble of hunters, they were warriors.

"Search their bodies, take what you can find," ordered one in a dialect of ancient Astrean as he sheathed his sword, "I will handle the foreigner."

The man, in armor with bright red accents stepped up to James. The spacer looked him over, he was powerfully built, tall and strong. As the man removed his helmet James noticed his shaved head and Astrean decent. His dark brown eyes commanded respect and attention.

"What is your name?" the man asked in the same language he had spoken in.

James took a second, scanning his memory. He knew Astrean rather well, and the dialect was faintly understandable he searched for the words to put together that the man would understand. "I am James, James Justice."

One of them, in gold-sigiled armor gave a start of obvious surprise. He had not expected James to speak their language.

"I am Katsumoto," the man said, his face still unflinching with its command for respect, "Are you friend or are you our enemy?"

James took a moment to think, "I suppose we are going to find out, now won't we?"

"My lord," the man in gold butt in, "The rest of their hunting band will be here soon," he motioned with his well-crafted but ancient vibro blade to James, "Shall I kill this one too?"

Katsumoto looked down at James, James looked back at him with a dazed look of neither fear nor anything else.

"No, we will keep him around," Katsumoto answered, "he will be our prisoner, he may have some information to us."

The man in gold quickly swiped James' weapon away and the spacer was forced to his feet, half-dragged, half-led out of the canyon.

 

[James Justice]

The trail they led him down was well worn and led to the end of the small canyon half a mile later. They silently led him through a maze of more rock formations caused by Vega's last orbit. At long last they reached a small camp that was clearly made for the seven of them. Even still the stockings were sparse.

James was forced to sit before Katsumoto on a small rock. The powerfully built man looked down at James with an apraising eye. Two of the others stationed them on either side of their master, another climbed to the top of a stack of rocks to take lookout as the other three moved to drink.

"What are you doing in our homeland, James?" Katsumoto asked at last.

James lowered his eyes in thought, "I don't know. I guess you could say I am on a," he searched for the right word, "quest."

"And what is it that your looking for, James?" Katsumoto asked.

"Myself," James said without hesitation.

Katsumoto studied James deeply for several moments before speaking again, "You have the look of a man who has seen many battles."

James nodded in reply.

"Ask him about the village," the man in gold butt in.

Katsumoto stayed him with a motion of his hand. "Three days ago the seven of us went out on a hunting party as part of my son's birthday," the warrior motioned to the armor-clad warrior perched on the rock formation, "When we returned, our village had been raided. Women and children were gone, our wives, daughters, children captured. Many of our own died. We gathered our armor and weapons. That band," he motioned towards the way they had come, "They took them there are many."

"I understand," James nodded.

"We have continued to attack as much as seven men can, but there is little that we can do against such numbers," Katsumoto continued. "It is taking more time than we have. They have been traveling to a slave market where they will sell our women and children to the foreigners."

 

[James Justice]

"I can help you," James offered after a second, "Killing slavers is something of my specialty."

"My Lord, we do not know if we can trust this foreigner, he could be with them," objected the man in gold.

Katsumoto only looked to James with a questioning eye. The spacer shrugged, "He is right. I could. But you have seven, and by the looks of things, no--" he searched for the right word in their language, 'Firearms. Like mine over there. I can be a valuable ally against those monsters."

Katsumoto looked James over once more before giving a bow, "Thank you, James," he took the weapon back and returned it to James, motioning to the man in gold, "This is Ujio, the captain of our guard, and my most faithful ally," he motioned to the other man at his side, "This is Bob, my sensei and the trainer of our troops." He paused before asking, "Do you have a plan, James?"

"I have something of an idea," James said as he holstered his weapon, "They have the numbers but we have the training, I saw you cut through them like dogs."

"For over five hundred generations my family have studied the ways of the sword," Katsumoto said. "Since the gods sent us here from our home, falling from the sky in the tear of a dragon."

James blinked. He was constantly picking up bits of Soceras' history in bars and pubs. One of the early legends that was that when Dal'Bor was little more than a landing pad and a few hastily built pubs they had hired in a team of well trained Astrean mercenaries. Their ship was called Tear of a Dragon, on its entry Vega had pulled it out of its trajectory into the hell that was the southern hemisphere. He felt a slight nudge of awe at the revelation before picking up his train of thought, "I do have something of an idea, what sort of weapons do we have?"

"We have seven katanas, seven bows, seven mounts, our armor, and spears," Ujio answered.

James nodded, he could work with that, "Do you have an alcohol? The stronger the better."

 

[James Justice]

James wrapped himself in a tight blanket of the Force as he crept closer to the encampment. The twilight of the rising sun of Soceras helped to hide his position even further. His clothes had been doused in a thick coating of the local dirt, making his body even less conspicuous. Even still, self doubt gnawed at the edges of his mind. James knew he was doing this for the right reasons; these women and children did not need the life that was set before them as slaves, they deserved something better, a life of hope, a life where they had a chance to be something. But still, the echoes of James' past violence hounded him. Ghosts of the past, their faces, their voices.

James silenced them all as he reached the edge of the camp. The look out didn't see James until it was too late, the spacer clamped the man's mouth shut before ramming a dagger into the soft of his kneck. A quick, painless death. The spacer lowered the savage's body gently before creeping along the tents on the edge of camp. His dagger flashed again, slaying another guard. Then another. The whole southern half of the perimeter was quickly emptied of their guards. As the Force kept him hidden further, the spacer slunk across the camp. Luckily the place was mostly deserted. He reached the otherside without incident.

He found the tent that was the biggest, clearly important. He fished a pair of dark bottles from his satchel and began dousing the side in every last drop the potent acohol. When he was finished he tossed the bottles aside and lit it into a massive orb of fire. One of the savages saw it aflame and began screaming, soon his comrades were joining him in trying to put the fire out. It was an easy matter for James to pick them off, their corpses fell into the flames and were soon consumed.

The fire grew hotter and brighter in a matter of minutes there were more than James could deal with and the fire had quickly spread to other tents surrounding this one. The spacer slunk off unnoticed to the rendezvous point at the mouth of the canyon. Katsumoto was there, the other six warriors with him, and a host of their women and children.

"We gotta move fast," James said breathless before they had a chance to thank him, "Before they start running and find us.

 

[James Justice]

James spent the next few days traveling with Katsumoto's group. Over the time even Ujio came to give James begruding respect. The spacer learned a lot rather quickly about their culture. Their armor had been made from the tears of dragons, they claimed, handed down like the blades from generation to generation. James could guess that the heavy metallic plates were more so made from the hulls of ships and painted, but their design was indeed, worthy of legend. He learned that although they were deft warriors, unlike the savages, they were not instigators of war. Deeply enriched with honor, they all sought to make their ancestors proud and become great warriors for them, living up to their standards or higher. However, Katusmoto explained, their limited food meant that they were never able to grow to massive numbers or to be the leaders of the land. As such, their warriors only numbered in the hundreds.

"What will you do when you get home?" James asked over a campfire on the third night.

"We will rebuild," Katsumoto said with a hint of optimism, "The homes can be made once more, though the fire burns, we can remake them."

"You have builders in your group?" James asked.

"Everything we do, we do with excellence," Katusmoto nodded, 'Yes, we do."

James licked his lips as he thought for a moment, "I have a city, two of them, I am something of the Lord there. We have land, good land where you can learn to grow things. You can have a second chance there, you can lead your people and have a better life, the type that your children deserve unlike this hell."

"I cannot abandon the way of the warrior," Katsumoto said after a moment. "For all these generations we have been warriors, we cannot forsake the ways of our ancestors."

"I have an army," James offered, "We need men. Good men like you to train. To help stop other things like this from happening."

"All that matters to me are my people," Katsumoto replied, "I will talk with the council of warriors of this tomorrow. They will help me decide."

 

[James Justice]

The next morning James was sent with Bob out of the camp before dusk. The air was clear of stink for the first time in quite a while, but the arid heat still beginning to warm up even before the sun rose. James gave a soft curse, why couldn't this hemisphere be even the least bit kind?

He waited for several hours as the sun rose higher. His several attempts at communication with Bob proved to no avail, the man's ability to remain silent was phenomenal, truly worthy of an award. At last at noon, James was beckoned back to the camp. Katsumoto stood by the others in their camp, Ujio by his side, his son Nobutada on his other side. They were dressed in rough but classic Astrean robes, their armor and camping gear slung over their backs, ready to move once more, the same was for the rest of the camp.

"I have spoken with the rest of my warriors," Katsumoto said, "If we go to your city, can we return if we do not desire it?"

"Of course."

"If we go to your city, will I still be Lord of my people, and my son after me?"

James nodded, "You are an honorable man, Katsumoto. You know your people better than I ever will."

"Can we return to our city to get the remainder of our weapons first?" Ujio asked.

"Yes, and I do not mind having my best people looking and seeing if we can help make your armors more enhanced," James offered.

Katsumoto gave a nod, "We will go with you, then."

 

[James Justice]

It took the whole journey of the rest of the day to reach the remains of Katsumoto's city, Dragon's Tear. The savages had ravaged it, burning what they could. James could see several graves that still looked semi-fresh. Ujio and Bob went to the center of the town and unearthed a cash of weapons they had gathered when they returned. The armor, spears, and katanas were all like the first seven James had seen, though each had their own stylistic difference. Each weapon and set of armor was distributed to their family within the clan.

"Each armor is holy," Katsumoto explained, "They are special, to their family. Each has been used by the first born for many ages."

"What if it breaks?"

"We mend it."

"What if the first born is a woman?"

"She bears it."

The process worked itself well into the night. The next few days were slow going but James felt a bit more hope than the journey to the ruined village. He was getting to help families, this time in ways they could feel it. He wasn't having to kill for it, or do illegal activities, they were just good men and women who were getting a chance to learn to farm and live a steady life. This was what he wanted to do his whole life, he realized. This was who he wanted to be, not a murderer.

At last he marched with his new people through the streets of Dal'Bor. The looks he received were shock, surprise, and even fear. However the faces of the warriors, their wives and children were in expressions of pure awe and delight. They had never seen a city like this before, James could only guess what was going through their heads. Several of the police pulled in front of their path. Ujio reached for his sword, but Katsumoto stayed his hand.

"What is happening here?" One of the police asked as he stepped from his airspeeder.

James moved to the front of the crowd, "They are with me, call in a ride to the Angels Den."

"Y-y-yes sir, of course sir," the man stammered.

"What did he say?" Katsumoto asked.

James smiled "I will take you to my palace."

 

[James Justice]

The Bus speeder ride to the Angel's Den was short, but one of pure wonder for the warrior James brought with him. He led Katsumoto, Ujio, Nobutada, and Bob to the top of the tower where his office was, the spacer let them get an eyefull of his city. Even Ujio could not hold back his looks of amazement.

"Is this city the Realm of Dreams?" Katsumoto asked, "Our ancestors prophesied that when we were good enough and the time was right we would live in this city and among the greatest warriors to walk the ground."

James smiled as he poured his guests each a glass of wine, "I don't know," he distributed the glasses before continuing, "I would like to get to some business if you do not mind."

"Of course," Katsumoto agreed.

"I first would like to know how many families you have for us to provide land for."

"We have 567 total, men woman and children," Katsumoto answered without hesitation.

James nodded, "I think that we can alot 4000 acres to start, if you need more you tell me," James said tapping the numbers on a screen attached to his desk, "How many fighting fit are out of that?"

"120," Katsumoto answered, "Armed, armored, and able to fight."

"Can any of you use firearms?"

"No," Ujio answered, "Bows, spears, katanas, what you've seen us use."

James nodded before looking up, "If you are willing to fight for me for a year, I the land is yours forever to do as you see fit. As you need more land you can work it off. Any excess I can sell to my distributors who will give you most of the money."

Katsumoto gave a bow, "We will fight for you as long as there is honor in it."

James gave a nod, "I will do my best to keep that for you."