Dead Eyes

[Aurelias Kazaar]

This thread could not be done without the help of Dasquian Belargic, Lilaena De'Ville, and Terran Starek. Thank you very much!


Ghorman- 22 Years Before The Battle of Endor

Losing a parent is always tough. Whether the child is two, 12, or 52, it's always difficult to deal with the death of someone who gave birth, nutured, and raised them.

For Aurelias Kazaar it was even more difficult.

He hadn't been on Ghorman long. Really just showed up 'bout a day ago after Gorgja the Hutt sent him to the planet to give credits to some musician named Arakke. The teenager liked th'tunes the Bith played, 'specially the ones where Arakke had extended gasan string drum solos. The way Arakke played...man it was great t'listen to. The musician was even starting t'get experimental, using 'em in slower, more mellow songs instead of the usual upbeat tunes.

And it was th'mellower songs which appealed t'Kazaar's mood.

His parents had been th'kind which allowed their son t'be himself. They'd never been judgemental of Kazaar's actions, disciplining him when needed, but they'd mainly given him the space he needed to grow.

Kazaar's father had preached toughness to his son, mainly while taking him to the shockboxing ring where they spent plenty of time together. Young Kazaar had never bothered to ask why a professor of history at the local university was so enamoured with the 'sweet science' of shockboxing; but he was also a fan of smashball so the son just kinda figured it was one of those things.

Like his last day of school.

Kazaar's parents had been called to pick up the boy for fighting. It wasn't the first time they'd been called to the school for fighting, but this instance was different. Kazaar'd chosen a different target to extend his anger towards. They'd sat patiently in the principal's office, listening to how Kazaar had beat (rather harshly, the school counselor noted) a boy two years older than he was. Didn't matter Kazaar came to the defense of a young girl who'd been beaten or that this boy was someone who'd preyed on younger girls beforehand. Since the chuffsucker was the son of a Commerce Guild minister (and on the up-and-up) Kazaar got the shaft and got kicked out. His parents raised plenty of hell 'bout it but to no avail. In the end...they just shrugged and moved on.

And Kazaar never bothered t'ask 'bout it.

'Course there were a lot of things Kazaar didn't bother to ask...like why Kazaar's family never talked to either set of grandparents. 'Least he knew who his mom's parents were, two Alderaanian geographers or something like that. He hadn't even seen a picture of his dad's parents' so who knew where the hell they were. Or what the hell they did either. He never could figure out if it was because they were outlaws or maybe his dad was.

That was something else ya didn't talk 'bout.

But his parents fought for what they believed in, which was why they'd left a few weeks ago for some 'unnamed location'.

"It's going to be big, Aurelias," his mom's face almost beamed. She'd inherited her geographer parents love of politics, "Palpatine and his stooge, Vader, will have to listen to us. The increased taxations aren't right. They should leave us alone and let us live..."

The teenager had stopped listening after that. He had to go on an errand for Gorgja and deliver supplies and weapons to some farmers who were being harassed on one of Brentaal's plateaus. Besides, he never really figured out why his mom loved politics. Far as he was concerned, all politicians were corrupt bastards and the more they left him alone the better.

His 'errand' turned into a full-blown assault, as he defended th'farmers (who were pretty damn weak to begin with) from part of some clan of Rodians. It'd taken him 'bout two weeks to get the entire thing settled and in the end, Kazaar came out 400 creds richer and a nice scar on his right arm as a trophy.

The Alderaanian wore it with pride as he strode into Gorgja's domicile, his head upturned and a wide smirk on his face. It froze when he saw the look on the Hutt's bulbous face.

"It's your parents." Gorgja'd done a pretty good job at mastering Basic. He'd also mastered the ability t'care about his employees. Especially those who'd saved his life and had a penchant for killing. "They were a part of...an incident on Ghorman."

If he coulda frowned, Gorgja probably would have, "There was a group of protesters rallying against the Empire's taxes in the system. The commander of the ship, Tarkin, landed on them.

"They didn't make it."

He'd stared at his boss for a while, trying to figure out if this was a joke (and a pretty pitiful one at that). When Gorgja didn't change his expression, Kazaar closed his black eyes. When he opened them...it looked like he'd died with his parents.