Ord Mantell - Cantina – ATC 3

The cantina went silent. The band, who had been playing all night and showed no sign of stopping, suddenly did just that. The customers didn't even whisper amongst themselves. The Imperial Agent surveyed the room, hoping to find an empty booth. However, there weren't any, so he made one empty. He walked over to a booth, occupied by a small group, each of his steps sounding like the thudding of a drum in the quiet room.

“Move,” he snapped, “or I'll move you.”

The group jumped out of their seats, immediately leaving the cantina. The agent sat down and stared at several more people, before leaning back and closing his eyes, as if to go to sleep. The cantina flooded with noise again, people going back to their conversations and the band resumed playing their instruments.

Almost an hour had past, without any movement, or even any sign of life from the Imperial Agent. “You old womp rat,” a man yelled from across the bar, “what brings you back to Ord Mantell?”

The agents eyes opened instantly, a grin appeared on his face. The man shoves his way through the bar, eventually getting to the booth. In front of the agent stood a stout and somewhat crude looking man. Both the agent and the stout man shoved one of their hands out to meet the other, “Maeron, good to see you again old friend, let's get some drinks, I haven't had anything since I arrived.”

The agent called over one of the waitresses. “What can I get you luvvie?” the slack-jawed yokel of a waitress asked, the typical sort around this place.

“I'll have a bottle of Sullustan wine and... Jawa juice for you isn't it Maeron?” The agent asked, but Maeron never got the chance to reply before the waitress interrupted, “We haven't had any Sullustan wine in weeks unfortunately, but we do have quite a large supply of Jawa juice.”

The agent nodded, “We'll take a couple glasses of Ardees then.” The waitress smiled quickly, before turning back to the bar.

“Make mine non-alcoholic,” Maeron yelled to the waitress.

“Non-alcoholic?” The agent asked, with a sour look on his face. Maeron laughed briefly, “It's only noon, Lidell.”

The pair spent several hours discussing recent events, joking around and even trying to pick up a couple of Twi'lek dancers, working with the band. Unsuccessfully of course.

“So, Lidell, I've realised something. For as long as I've known you, you've never told me about your past. Like, where did you grow up? Who are your parents? Hell, I don't even know your actual age, when were you born?”

These sorts of questions he has tried avoid for life, however, he didn't seem to mind sharing his past with Maeron, “What's a story among friends, or friend in this case.” he said, taking another swig from his bottle of Jawa juice.

Lorrd – Lidell Homestead – BTC 38

“It's a boy,” The midwife announced, with a smile reaching from one ear to the other. “We'll have him cleaned up in a minute and get him right back to you.”

As the midwife walked away with the child, the father, Veerus, walked over and cuddled with his wife. Her tears and screams of pain had quickly turned to tears of happiness and sighs of relief.

That minute the midwife said she'd be, turned out to be half an hour, but eventually the newborn found his way bay in to his mother's arms.

“Thought of a name yet, Rysa?” Veerus asked his wife.

She looked the child, smiled and looked back at Veerus, “I was thinking about naming him after your brother, Zekk.”

Ord Mantell - Cantina – ATC 3

“Wait, wait, wait... your name is Zekk? Where did you get Lidell from?” Maeron asked, interrupting Lidell's story.

“Lidell is my last name, but Zekk isn't my name either, and I'll be damned if I'm going to tell you what it is,” he responded, with a slight hint of annoyance in his voice.

He grabbed his bottle of Jawa juice and swallowed the last mouthful, while gesturing to waitress to get him another. He cleared his throat, “Can I continue with my story now?”

Lorrd – Lidell Homestead – BTC 30

Eight years of a normal, happy life, but on this day, that would change. The Myrialites of the Argazdan Redoubt had enslaved the Lorrdians and put in place strange, inhumane laws such as, forbidding the populace to speak, or face death. This caused the citizens of the planet to find other ways to communicate, developing their own language known as “Kinetic Communication”. Though while many conformed, there were several towns on the planet that still openly resisted. These towns now suffered greatly, facing famine and disease. Lidell's family were one of the lucky ones, until the Myrialites decided it was time for them to suffer.

During the night, as the Myrialites ransacked the town. Citizens ran through the streets, screaming for their lives as the houses they had once lived in were now only ashes. A fist slammed against the door, “Open up!”

Rysa opened the door, “Can I help you gentlemen?”

One of the men pushed her up against the wall, while the others ran in, searching every nook and cranny.

“You can help us by staying out of our way,” the myrialite said, gripping Rysa's neck. Rysa began coughing, so the myrialite let her go and walked off as she passed out on the floor.

“You men are insane,” Veerus yelled. “Get out of our house.”

He attempted to fight back, until one of the thugs pulled out a a small blaster. “I have a better idea,” he said, “why don't you get out?”

The Myrialite grabbed Lidell and pointed the blaster to his head, making Veerus back out of the door slowly. With all the commotion, they'd forgotten all about Rysa, until smoke started rising from the rear of the house. The myrialites had taken any valuables the family had and set the house on fire. Veerus rushed to the door, while Lidell stood outside, staring at the house, expressionless. Veerus placed his hand on the door and quickly pulled it back. The flames had already spread through the house and when he heard the screams of agony, he knew it was useless. When he peered through one of the windows, he watched in terror, his wife, covered in flames, burning to death and there was nothing he could do. Tears filled his eyes and he collapsed. Lidell stared on, watching the flames engulf the house, until finally coming to his senses and running over to his father, attempting to pull him away from the fire. This was Lidell's first realisation of the cruel galaxy that awaited him.

Ord Mantell – Cantina – ATC 3

“I'm so sorry,” Maeron interrupted again. Lidell sighed, “I'm not, so why should you be?”

Maeron's face gained a sudden look of shock, “You mean, you weren't sad or angry at the loss of your mother?”

“No,” he replied. “In fact, it was one of moments in my life that would later define who I am.”

The pair went silent for a moment, Maeron staring down at his drink, and Lidell waiting for his response. He looked up, “And who are you?”

“A cold hearted bastard,” he smirked. “Now, can you stop interrupting?”

Nal Hutta – Hutt Compound – BTC 18

“Keel-ee calleya ku kah.” Zovvol the Hutt said, the anger growing in his tone.

“Disappointed you?” Lidell asked. “I don't understand, I did as you asked. Rozann has been eliminated.”

The Hutt laughed loudly, “Stoopa ootmian.”

The Hutt went on to explain how, while Lidell had indeed eliminated the target, he had failed to retrieve an experimental blaster rifle, which was the purpose of the mission in the first place.

“Well, you can hardly blame me for that, your lackey over here failed to inform me of such a device,” he sighed, “If your men were a little more forthcoming with all the details of the mission, I may actually be able to complete them as per your request.”

Lidell was a hunter however, he was no expert at stealth and reconnaissance. Not only was he not able to acquire the experimental blaster rifle, but he had failed to cover his tracks, such as the fact that he had forgotten about the surveillance cameras that were littered around the apartment complex.

The Hutt was not going to argue, he knew his men were incompetent and he knew that with the amount of alcohol he had consumed, he might do something a bit irrational. He was indeed one of the better Hutts in the galaxy.

“Beeska mu-moolee bu Halapu,” he said, gesturing for Lidell to leave.

Lidell grinned, “Thank you, oh and one more thing.”

He gripped his holstered Mark III Zabrak Tystel, removing it from it's holster and aiming it at the Hutt. Before anybody else could move, Lidell had already emptied four blaster bolts in to the Hutt's stomach. Several of the servants gasped while the guards rushed towards Lidell.

“Hold it,” he demanded. “Your boss is dead, what good would it do for any of you to kill me?”

The room went silent, until that silence was broken by Lidell chuckling to himself, “Actually, let me rephrase that. What good would it do any of you to 'try' and kill me?”

He continued to walk out the door, with a big grin on his face and a small fortune in his bank account.

Ord Mantell – Cantina – ATC 3

Lidell stopped, took a drink from his glass of Jawa juice and said, “So, what have you got to say about that?”

“Oh,” Maeron replied, a bit confused. “I thought you didn't want me to interrupt.”

“Good point.” he realised.

Korriban – Imperial Academy – BTC 14

The small fortune Lidell had acquired four years prior didn't last him long. Most of it pissed away on illegal swoop races, alcohol and the occasional Twi'lek. However, with the galaxy on the brink of destruction, there was quite a bit of credit to be made in war. His previous business escapades made Lidell perfect for a position as an Imperial Agent and almost a decade later, one of the Emperor's personal favourites.

“Well, your physical checks out,” the recruiter said, examining Lidell's medical chart.

“Let's see how you do in a hostile environment. I've put together a hunting party and we're going after some Wraids on the outskirts of Dreshdae. You up for it, or should I just tear up this application right now?”

The recruiter raised an eyebrow and grabbed a rifle from the gun rack on the wall behind him.

“Well?” he gestured towards Lidell.

He smiled, “I'll stick with my own thanks,” grabbing on to his own RT-97C he had slung over his shoulder.

The hunting party had been gone several hours before they had come across their first target, quickly detected and eliminated by the recruiter. It might have taken awhile for the first target to be found, but it had seemed they had stumbled in to a nesting ground, with about three dozen Wraids occupying the territory.

“This is what I was afraid of. Alright people, pick up your gear, we're going back to the academy,” the recruiter ordered.

Several of the men groaned and headed back, but Lidell, being the insubordinate “son of a schutta” his previous commander within the Republic military used to call him, he of course didn't follow those orders.

“You go ahead,” he said arrogantly, rubbing his stomach, “I'm hungry.”

The Recruiter charged after him, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back, “I gave you an order, recruit.”

Lidell smacked his hand away, “I've signed on to be an agent, I'm not one of your grunts. I don't take orders, I take contracts,” he added, “and I can just as easily go back to the Republic if you not happy with that. However, I'm sure your superiors wouldn't take too kindly to you chasing a soldier as skilled as I away.”

The Recruiter was bewildered, he stepped back and watched as Lidell slid down the rockface and disappeared in to the valley.

“Uh, head back men,” he ordered, still staring down at the valley.

Several more hours passed, the sky was pitch black and while the hunting party were resting their feet, Lidell was presumed dead.

“I'd say he was overwhelmed by the Wraids. Just archive his application and we'll close down for the-” the Recruiter was interrupted by a commotion near the academy entrance.

A voice cried out, “Sir, I think you need to look at this.”

The Recruiter came running in to the room and tripped over somebodies leg. He groaned and looked up. A look of shock and disbelief appeared on his face as he stared in to the eye of a dead Terentatek's head.

“Where, what, how?” words flooded out of his mouth before he had time to even think about what he was saying.

“I ventured a bit further in to the valley than I had anticipated and before I knew it, I was surrounded by Wraids. I was lucky enough not to be spotted by one as I made my way in to a cave nearby. It was actually quite bad judgement on my part, I mean, there could have been a whole family of Wraids sleeping in there. Lucky for me, there wasn't any Wraids in there, but, there was a Terentatek.”

He went on to explain how there was no epic battle, it was simply a matter of a blade to the back of the head when the creature wasn't looking. Whether or not there was an epic battle, this was the type of man the Imperial Army needed, a man that got the job done, under any circumstance, which pretty much described Lidell in a nutshell.

Ord Mantell – Cantina – ATC 3

Maeron chuckled, “Don't you think you're a bit over exaggerating there, I mean, when was the last time you heard a single man, took down a fully grown Terentatek?"

“Oh, you don't believe me?” he asked, searching his bag.

He took a holoprojector from it and placed it on the table. A few people at the bar marvelled as an image of Lidell holding the Terentatek head appeared, dated BTC 14.

“Now your highness, may I continue, or do I have to wait for your royal decree?”

Coruscant System Space – Mandalorian Armada – BTC 8

“It's nice of you to join us Mandalore,” Lidell said, watching the view screen that now zoomed in on Coruscant.

The sharp sound of the metal armor and reinforced durasteel that made up the bridge, as well as most of the ship, could be heard with every step the Mandalore took. When he finally reached Lidell he placed his hand on his shoulder and together they watched the viewscreen in silence, as the image of Coruscant became larger.

“Well, it seems our time has arrived,” Mandalore said and even though you couldn't see it under his helmet, he grinned, “I believe we have a Cruiser ready for you to take command of.”

Lidell nodded and began walking down the bridge's aisle, however, he stopped halfway and replied, “just try not to screw up. I didn't go through all that trouble on Geonosis, just so we could both die here today,” then continued walking.

He took a small shuttle to the Mandalorian cruiser neighbouring the command ship. Upon arriving in the hangar bay, he was greeted, at least as far as a Mandalorian greeting goes.

“Welcome aboard commander, we've got pretty much everything set up for you, just waiting on Mandalore's orders.” the Mandalorian made it clear he wasn't particularly fond of a non-mandalorian being in control of the ship, but he was loyal to Mandalore and followed his orders to the word.

As he walked on to the bridge, Lidell cleared his throat preparing for a little speech.

“I'm not too fond of orders, whether it's giving or receiving, but you all better listen and listen good. You will follow all of my instructions, or I'll deal with you when the time comes. That's how Mandalore wants it, that's how I want it,” he gazed over the bridge crew and while he could tell many of them objected, they weren't going to say anything, because it was Mandalore's will.

The communications officer interrupted abruptly, “Sir, Mandalore has ordered the armada to drop out of hyperspace.”

Lidell nodded and awaited further orders. About two hours before any word, until the communcations officer once again broke the silence.

“Sir, we're to expect hostiles,” he said, in a raspy voice.

Mandalorians were suppose to be some of the toughest people in the galaxy, “a force to be reckoned with” they say, but these men and possibly a woman or two, who can really tell under their armor, were one of the worst examples anyone had ever been given. Yet, he was suppose to lead them in to what would become one of the deadliest confrontations in the war.

Soon enough, the Mandalorian armada was met by a Republic flotilla, mostly consisting of Jedi security ships and a couple Thranta-class warships.

The communications officer yet again interrupted the excitement, “Sir, Mandalore has forwarded a live transmission from the Republic flotilla.”

“Go ahead,” he replied, keeping his eyes firmly on the viewscreen.

“Your armada has twenty minutes to surrender and retreat, before we open fire,” the Sullustan Republic Admiral threatened.

“Do you honestly believe your little Jedi friends and those few warships you brought up here are going to stand even the slightest chance against our cruisers?” Mandalore asked, each word sounding more arrogant that the last.

Lidell gestured over to his tacticians to hold their fire. “On my word,” he ordered.

The transmission ended and the several minutes of silence between commands caused the anticipation to build, until finally word came from Mandalore, “Open fire.”

Turbolaser bolts, missiles and ionized particles shot from one ship to another. If the aftermath of the battle didn't cause as much as death as it did, this would have been quite a sight to see. Hulls were breached, fires broke out, hundreds of lives were ended in sudden explosions. There were no tactics used, no strategical advantages, this started and ended as an all out dogfight.

The flotilla was massacred and Mandalorians maintained their blockade, several new ships joining their forces every day to make up for the ones that were lost. A crucial victory by the Empire that would see it's grip on the galaxy grow ever tighter.

Ord Mantell – Cantina – ATC 3

Maeron sighed, “I know I shouldn't doubt you, but these stories, to me, just seem unbelievable. You've lived quite an extraordinary life.”

“I suppose, but to me, it's just work,” he said, fiddling around with a datapad, which he was using to pay his and Maeron's tab.

“So anyway, I'm just wondering, what made you turn from a order-hating, lone wolf to a ship commander?” Maeron asked, finishing off the last of his Jawa juice.

Lidell sighed, “a favour to an old friend.”

Geonosis – Arena – BTC 14

“Do I actually have a mission here or did you just want me to get you an autograph?” Lidell asked the holo-projected image of an Imperial Commander.

Although it was hard to make out, the commander smiled, “Just get down the chambers and find the man I told you to find.”

Lidell sighed and ended the transmission, putting the holoprojector in his bag. He scanned the arena, pushing past the crowd that were entering the stadium for the scheduled fights.

“Out of the way, Laserbrain,” a Toydarian yelled, pushing past Lidell.

He immediately reacted, grabbing and pulling on the Toydarian's wing, “Didn't your schutta of a mother teach you manners, you Toydarian scum?”

“Qr'aal, help me,” he cried out, obviously to one of his companions.

A look of confusion appeared on his face, “Qr'aal, what the hell is a Qr'aal?”

The look of confusion subsided, when he felt the scaly hand of a Trandoshan on his shoulder, “I'm a Qr'aal,” the Trandoshan smirked.

Lidell turned around, staring blankly at Qr'aal as the Trandoshan raised his fist and then looked around Qr'aal when he heard footsteps rushing towards them. It was a gladiator, rushing to Lidell's aid. Qr'aal turned and was struck immediately in the face.

“I'm going to turn you in to bantha fodder,” Qr'aal hissed at the gladiator.

The Toydarian had already been long gone and the Trandoshan was left to the mercy of Lidell and the mysterious gladiator. The gladiator made the first move, attempting to strike Qr'aal again, but failing. The Trandoshan grabbed his arm and lifted him up over his head. While the gladiator attempted to squirm out of the Trandoshan's grip, Qr'aal moved toward the edge of the arena.

“Let me go, monkey-lizard!” the gladiator shouted, managing to punch the Trandoshan in the face, allowing him to get free, but causing the Trandoshan to stumble over the railing, falling head first in to the arena, breaking his neck on impact.

The gladiator looked down, wiped his hands together and laughed, “Well, that was fun, but you weren't much help.”

“I needed to see if you could handle yourself,” he replied. “Good to know I'm not wasting my time here.”

“Alright, but you owe me one,” the gladiator grinned.

Ord Mantell – Cantina – ATC 3

“That explains it,” Maeron said, leaning back in his chair.

Lidell cleared his throat, “I might have been able to explain quite a few things by now, but you keep interrupting.”

“Fine, sorry, go on.”

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