Star Wars: The Holy Empire

Chapter 22: The Bet

"The Great Jabba wants to know why you knock out four of his guards" said the protocol droid

"Jabba, I came here to find someone that I want" I said "I am sorry about your little guards, but they got in my way and anyone that gets in my way, I will removed them out of my way, with 'Force' if I have to."

Jabba started talking again

"The Great Jabba wants to know 'Who are you looking for, that you are willing to make an enemy out of him?'" said the protocol droid

"I want one of your slaves, I want the Twi'lek that works in your Entertainment Zone named Dia" I said "But I won't steal her from you, I am willing to buy her. How about 17,000 credits for her and I will add an extra 3,000 credits as an apology for beating up your guards

When I gave my offer to Jabba, he glared down at me and then started to ponder over my offer.

After thinking for about a minute, he started talking again.

"The Great Jabba says he will not accept your offer and apology" said the protocol droid "He also says he knows you are a Jedi since you used the Force to dispose of his guards but he doesn't want to cause any conflict with your Jedi Order so he will demand an explanation and apology from the Jedi Council for your behavior.

"I think you are mistaken about something here Jabba, I am no Jedi. Have you ever heard of a Jedi as violent as me" I said " Since I am no Jedi, that means the Jedi Order has no power or control over me."

After hearing my statement, Jabba started talking again

"The Great Jabba says if you have no connection with the Jedi Order, then he will just kill you for your offense against him" said the protocol droid

When the protocol droid translated what Jabba said, his 15 bodyguards aimed their blasters at me.

While the bodyguards had their blasters on me, I stared at Jabba and he stared back at me, and I thought why not do something fun.

"I know you want to kill me, but how about we make a bet?" I asked Jabba "Wouldn't that be much more entertaining for you?"

Jabba was piqued by my suggestion and looked at me. He started talking.

"The Great Jabba wants to know what do you want to bet for?" asked the protocol droid

I will bet 1,000,000 credits, and you will bet the Twi'lek, Dia, 250,000 credits and two favors for me" I said

"The Great Jabba says he will bet the Twi'lek, 60,000 credits and two favors, that is his only offer" says the protocol droid

"Hmmm.... alright, it's a deal" I said

"The Great Jabba wants to know what game you want to gamble with?" asked the protocol droid

"Games are too boring, why don't we have a Death Match in the Fighting Zone instead,." I said "You can send 20 armed guards to kill me or if you want, you can use beasts to fight against me."

Jabba stared at me, and then he started laughing with joy. After laughing for a minute, he started talking again.

"The Great Jabba says he likes your suggestion." said the protocol droid "He accepts your offer but he wants to use 30 armed men instead of 20"

As I was thinking of Jabba's counter proposal for a few seconds, I started thinking that I should accept it, since this would be a good challenge for me to test my combat and Force skills, that I have been training for the last three months.

With this battle, it can help me put my skills to the test to see if I can handle actual combat, this battle will be the whetstone to sharping my skills for my future battles.

It was like one of my sensei's told me "Without bloodshed and battle, a warrior can never become stronger. If you just train your skills in the dojo without ever facing bloodshed and battle, then you would stay weak forever." I find what my sensei told me to be true. Just like how the Jedi trained and never faced bloodshed, they stayed weak which resulted in 179 Jedi killed out of a total of 202 Jedi at the first Battle of Genosis, which was basically a 90% casualty rate.

I can't stay weak, I need to become stronger with bloodshed and battle.

"Alright Jabba. You can use 30 men" I said " With 30 armed men, it will make our gamble a lot more fun and less boring and we don't want to have a boring gamble do we?"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" Jabba started laughing and started talking while laughing

"The Great Jabba says he is starting to like you" said the protocol droid "He says if you survive the Death Match, he will give you what you want and he will like to have lunch with you afterwards"

"It would be my pleasure to have lunch with you" I said while smiling behind my mask "Instead of using your own men, why don't you put a bounty on my head for those in the arena, that way none of your men will die."

"MUHAHAHAHA" Jabba was laughing with joy. He started looking at me like I was a good drinking buddy

"The Great Jabba says he loves your idea and he will put a bounty in arena for your head" said the protocol droid while Jabba started slithering out of his seat "The Great Jabba wants go to the Arena now, and he wants you to walk with him"

I stood up and walked side by side with Jabba to his Viewing Room above the Fighting Pits which was connected by a hallway to this room.

When we entered Jabba's Viewing Room, I looked left and I could see the Fighting Arena which was a big dirt arena which was the size of a soccer field. Surrounding the Arena were spectator seats with about 200 people sitting and watching the current fight happening at the moment. After looking, I found that the Fighting Arena resembles a square mini version of the Roman Coliseum. While I was looking down at the square Coliseum, one of Jabba's bodyguard came up to me.

"Follow me to the Arena" said one of Jabba's bodyguards

I followed the bodyguard down some stairs into a big room below Jabba's Viewing Room, and he gestured me towards the rooms exit.

I walked through the exit and was standing inside the Fighting Arena. I looked ahead and found that the fight that I saw from Jabba's Viewing Room is no longer happening. I then continued walking, while walking a lot of people in the stands were whispering and gossiping about me and wondering what is going on. Soon, I was standing in the middle of the arena.

Once I was in the middle of the arena, Jabba started speaking through a microphone and his voice was amplified for everyone to hear.

"The Great Jabba says he is here to bring to you glorious event, a massive Death Match." said the protocol droid " A once in a lifetime 1 vs 30 Death Match"

After the protocol droid gave the announcement, the audience in the stands started cheering.

"The man standing in the center of the arena is going to fight to the death with 30 armed men" said the protocol droid "The Great Jabba wants to know if there are any volunteers? The Great Jabba will give the 30 winners 2,000 credits each, if they can kill this man."

Once the reward for my death was given, there was a lot of commotion in the stands, with a lot of people cheering while some were thinking of volunteering for the fight thinking it would easy money.

Soon there were 30 people armed with blasters gathering with the thought of earning some easy money.

I just kept standing in the center of the arena waiting while the 30 armed thugs were gathering in the arena.

After waiting for 4 minutes, the 30 thugs were gathered in a group, 30 feet away from me

I slowly took off my hood and started to unhook my hooded cloak. After unhooking my hooded cloak, it dropped to the ground.

"You must be thinking killing me will be easy, right?" I asked while laughing

I lifted up both of my arms to make a 't' with my body. With my arms in the air, I used the Force to unholster my two lightsaber from my belt and quickly brought them into my hands and I then quickly crossed my arms into a 'x'.

"If you think this will be easy, you are dead wrong" I said while activating my lightsabers.