Theft and Piracy

Hondo and the Jedi were gone, sped off towards the wreckage of the ship to make sure the Sith - or whatever they were - were really dead. They had, as usual, left the cleaning up of the battlefield to the subordinates. This gave them just enough resentment to be capable of betraying Hondo, but not enough to betray at just any measly offer. True piracy.

Bodies were hauled away to a pyre, because individual graves for every pirate who died pulling some stunt or other was work that none of them were willing to do. The camp was set back up to its original haphazard state, and the whole work was peppered with a lot of loud-mouthed bickering about "Hey, now who blew up my speeder? Hope he's on the pile." interchanged with "Oy, Juk took it! Sucks to be that bastard." "Ah, he was a heavy drinker, he had it coming. You heard what alcohol does to the arteries?" Followed by raucous laughter. Their lack of respect for life, applied equally to all, gave them somewhat of a benefit in handling death.

Then they came upon the body of the Jedi.

Four of them, who had been moving bodies in pairs, came to a stop in front of her.

"What about her?" The first asked.

"Can't we put her on the pile?"

"No!" The first scoffed. "Don't be stupid, Farren."

Farren huffed, rolled his eyes, and then asked, with a bitter curiosity, "Why not?"

The other three looked at each other, and shrugged.

"The other one probably wants her." Another put forth.

"But they're all about detachment, Rocko. Maybe if one of them dies, they just - shove it somewhere convenient."

"Well, she's not convenient laying on our front step!" The first snapped, and then reached for his comm. "Hondo? Derk here. Hey, what do you want us to do with the Jedi's body?"

"Ah, the lady. Yes." Hondo responded gruffly. After a moment, "Aaah, Kenobi says he'll take her." There was another pause. "Ay, Derk, maybe wrap her up or - something like people do. She is a lady, after all, and he seems surprisingly broken up."

"But he's a Jedi."

"And I am not! Do you think I know the answers? I am a pirate, Derk! My goodness."

"Alright, boss." Derk clicked off and looked at the others. "You heard him. We got a sheet or something?"

"Sure." Farren ran off.

Derk knelt down and carefully rolled her over, revealing a round face with round cheeks and big eyes, glazed over but a striking blue all the same.

"Come on, get the sand off her." He brushed it off her face, surprised at how soft her skin was. "Huh."

"What?" Jio was the fourth of the group, Rocko's friend who encouraged him to try new things, like kill people and drink his weight in whiskey.

"I dunno." Derk said. "Would've thought a Jedi would be tougher skinned."

"Naw, she wouldn't." Farren reappeared. "She's a Jedi, not a prozzy. They're like - royalty, but not. Only with themselves."

"You mean respect." Jio supplied helpfully. "She still must've really been something, though, to fight like she did and uphold herself like that." (Jio was the more educated one, who knew fancy words like "respect" and "uphold", though not so educated he was always capable of using them properly)

Farren spread the sheet, old and yellowed and full of holes, on the ground.

"Come on." Derk picked up her shoulders, and Jio got her legs.