SATURDAY STORY - JULY 16, 2022 KABE ON TATOOINE

 SATURDAY STORY - JULY 16, 2022

Kabe and Obi-Wan Kenobi

I write fiction on Saturday. 

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Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away:

Kabe Chadra had been orphaned at age 9. Her parents had been killed by the Empire.  Her father was a mechanic who worked on spaceships and didn’t care whose ship he fixed.  Inadvertently, he fixed a republic ship and that aroused the StormTroopers on Tatooine who had him (and Kabe’s mother) killed.

Kabe learned street smarts.  By age twelve she was a prostitute.  On Tatooine with the mix of races and aliens, not all traditional prostitution activities were possible.  She learned quickly what pleased Devaronians, Ithorians, Saurins, Births, Humans, and the other people.  She wasn’t considered ‘pretty’ but developed a personality and skills that appealed to the various traders on the planet.  She specialized in exotic perfumes and spices from the different planets that she wore and studied languages so she could interact with her marks in their tongue.

Kabe had also gotten adept at thievery and lived in the tunnels and sewers under the spaceport of Mos Eisley.  She was a good pickpocket and frequently managed detection by taking only money - no spaceship access devices.  When a space trader reached into his pocket and did not find access to his spaceship, he would immediately scream and set off a bad chain reaction.  But, when he reached into his pocket and some of his money was missing, it wasn’t quite as serious - especially when drunk.

Muftak, the Chuntarian, took her under his wing.  As ex-military on Chuntara, he had been disgraced and ended up on Tatooine.

Kabe partnered with Muftak in thievery, frequently with Muftak bumping into the mark while Kabe swiped his money.  Kabe and Muftak had a general system, never aggravating the regular customers of the Cantina, and always staying on the good side of Wuher, the bartender.  They gave Wuher a kickback of about 10% of the taking. 

Muftak was old enough to be Kabe’s dad, and that was the relationship.  Muftak worked with Laso Chadra, Kabe's Dad at the spaceport before Laso was killed.  

One of Kabe’s early pickpocket successes came when a gambling syndicate met on Tatooine in Jabba the Hutt’s spacial palace. Hired as a server for the banquet, she took over 1,000,000 credits from the drunk mob.  

Using the credits wisely, Muftak and Kabe hired Mulmano to excavate a subterranean home for them off the sewer network.  She did live like a princess in her underground palace!!

At the Cantina, she set a goal of 100,000 credits each night and generally met her goal.  Wuher liked the entrepreneurial spirit in Kabe and had some hiding places and escape doors where she could disappear if a trader got angry at her.

She had seen Han Solo around the spaceport enough to consider him as a regular and thus didn’t bother him.  

*****

Kabe observed people and saw a ‘country bumpkin’ arrive in a land speeder with a white-haired old man.  The boy’s name was Luke Skywalker.  But, Kabe learned quickly that the boy didn’t have any money and wasn’t worth the effort when more lucrative traders were around.  

There was something about the old man.  Luke called him ‘Ben’, but Kabe sensed there was more history in the old man.

In the crowded cantina, she drew near to the old man, and Kabe touched him as she attempted to get to his purse under his toga.  

Instantly a voice occurred in Kabe’s head, “You won’t get credits from me little one, but you will learn The Force”.  Something happened deep inside Kabe.  Something like scales dropped from her eyes and she could really see.  In that cantina, the life forces glowed around the patrons.  Some life forces glowed black, some were black and red, and some were a chaos of black, dark green, with phosphorescent orange like lightning.  There was a brilliant white about this Ben.  There was a small amount of white in the boy Luke.  Wuher the bartender had some white, he also had some black, and some red.  As Wuher charged a customer twice as much for a beverage he glowed black and red, but when Wuher gave drinks to the Cantina band, he glowed white.  

Kabe sensed that white was good, and the black and red were evil.  Looking down at her hands she saw black and red, but white was creeping into the tips of her fingers.  Muftak also had some white in him, plus a multitude of other colors.  Kabe knew Muftak to be a good friend and second father to her.

The voice inside her said “Go to the citadel and meditate.  The Force will be with you.”  She had never had such an experience.

*****

Kabe found one of the trapdoors she could use to escape the cantina and made her way to the citadel.  The citadel was a temple on a hill in the center of town.  On this planet of many peoples, tongues, and beliefs, the citadel was a retreat from the world.

Entering the citadel, Kabe found it mostly empty.  She had been here once before with her parents before they were killed but really didn’t remember it.  Finding a bench on the side, she sat down and let her thoughts empty out of her brain.  Soon a rush of white, golden thoughts entered her brain.  The main thought was “I am the Lord your God, you will have no other Gods before me”.  

Kabe sat in a trance for hours as The Force washed over her, remaking her.  At times the old man’s voice echoed in her brain, and at times she felt the presence of a Grogu with the name of Yoda in her brain.  

After several hours, The Force lifted Kabe up and she floated over Mos Eisley, and Tatooine, and out into space.  She saw in her brain other planets, other worlds, she saw something that her brain said was the rebellion in white and the empire in black and red colors.  The trance continued until Muftak grabbed her and shook her back to reality.  

*****

From that day on, Kabe was different.  She was sweet and seemed innocent.  She learned the way of LOVE WINS.  

She became an oracle, a seer, but one who followed what she said was The Force. She could see the good in people as white, and evil as black and red. She left a protective field generated by the force around her that keep evil away.

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Okay, a short and Pollyanna story today.  LOVE DOES WIN.  Let “The Force” guide you this coming week!!

Karen

July 16, 2022